342 Mr. J. L. Bonhote on the Martens 
XLV.—On the Martens of the Mustela flavigula Group. 
By J. L. Bonuore, B.A. 
AmonG the martens that have hitherto been considered as 
Mustela flavigula several well-marked geographic subspecies 
may be distinguished, and one of the forms (JZ, Gwatkinsii) 
that has been united with them is apparently a distinct and 
easily recognizable species, only found in the peninsula of 
India. The synonymy of this group is somewhat lenetiy, 
and when I began to work it out so many small errors and 
misquotations appeared to have been given, that I have 
thoroughly studied the subject and have personally verified all 
the references given. 
The first mention of this animal was made by Pennant, who 
described it under the name of ‘ White-cheeked Weesel,” 
from a menagerie specimen whose origin was unknown. 
There can be little doubt, however, that the specimen belonged 
to the form found in Nepal, Assam, and southward to Burma, 
as Pennant stated that the head was black—a character typical 
of that race. 
Boddaert, in his ‘ Elenchus Animalium,’ was the first to 
bestow on Pennant’s specimen the name of Mustela flavigula, 
and several other names were also based on the same descrip- 
tion, which materially helped to confuse the synonymy ; 
Galidictis chrysogaster is, however, the only one to which 
attention need be drawn. ‘This animal is said to be very 
dark on the back, head, and legs, with white cheeks and a 
golden-yellow breast and underparts, and is described from a 
specimen shot at Mussorie in the Himalayas by Mr. R. Gwat- 
kins. A few years later Horsfield, in his ‘ Catalogue of the 
Kast India Collection,’ describes, under the name JA/artes 
Guwatkinsti, a specimen collected in Madras by Mr. (afterwards 
Sir) Walter Elliot, and states in addition that it belongs to 
the same species as Mr. Gwatkins’ Mussorie specimen ; this, 
however, is not the case, for, as will be seen later on, the 
Mussorie specimen, being only an individual of the typical 
M. flavigula in summer, is specifically distinct from that from 
Madras. As Horsfield gives a detailed description of the 
South-Indian form, comparing it with the typical JZ, flavigula, 
and as the specimen from which the description was taken is 
still in existence in the British Museum, it seems to me 
necessary to retain thename Gwatkinsii for the South-Indian 
species, of which Elliot’s specimen would be the type. 
