On the Weasel and some of its Subspecies. 41 



black, (lark testaceous near the apex; it is thickly covered 

 with Ijri^ht golden pubescence. The base of the petiole is 

 sli'^htly (k>j)ressed ; its sides with some distinct curved 

 striatious. Th*; abdominal segments are lined with yellow; 

 the a|)iciil one is for the j;reater |)art testaceous. 



Tills species is referable to Oxifbehts Yixi\ii:r than to CrnJ>ro, 

 although it has not got any thoracic laminte, through the 

 submarginal cellule being confluent with th-j first discoidal, 

 anil through the eyes not being strongly divergent towards 

 the vertex. Saussure forms a tribe and Fox a subfamily for 

 Oxybelus — the Oxybelinct. 



HI. — Note on the Weasel^ Putorius (Ictis) nivalis, Linn., 

 and some of its Subspecies. By G. E. II. BARliETT- 

 II A MILTON. 



I HAVE recently had under examination the set of skins of the 

 weasel in the British Museum collection, and have been 

 greatly struck by the large amount of local variation shown 

 in the specimens from various parts of Europe, for many 

 of which the ]!iluseum is indebted to the liberality of the late 

 Lord Liltord and of Mr. Oldfield Thomas. 



The characters which seem most subject to variation are 

 the general size, the length of the tail, the colour of the 

 underside, and the course and arrangement of the line of 

 demarcation between the colours of the two surfaces of the 

 body. In the far north, as is well known, the weasel regu- 

 hirly turns white in winter, and this character is in itself 

 suflicienf to warrant the subspecific separation of those indi- 

 viduals whose winter coat is white from those which, as in 

 E)igland, do not undergo such a seasonal change of colour. In 

 temperate regions the reddish-brown colour of the upperside 

 is retained throughout the year, but the animal is characterized, 

 as in Great Britain, by the possession of a pure white belly. 

 In the warmer South, however, we find weasels with the 

 belly more and more washed with yellow, until, in some of 

 the Mediterranean localities, such as Sicily, Malta, and 

 Algeria, the colour reaches buff or orange. The length of 

 the tail seems to bear some relation to the colour of the 

 underside, for whereas specimens from Great Britain, France, 

 Hungary, Germany, Northern Italy, the Caucasus, and Asia 

 Minor (Van and Erzeruni) have short tails, those from iSicily, 

 Malta, Sardinia, Algeria, and Cairo are long-tailed, while those 

 from the south of Spain seem to be intermediate in this respect. 



