Feb., 191 2. Mammals of Illinois and Wisconsin — Cory. 361 



Subgenus LUTREOLA Wagner. 



Color nearly uniform all over; tail bushy; cusps of molars and 

 premolars well developed; sectorial tooth of upper jaw with well- 

 developed anterio-exterior cusp; frontal outline nearly straight, in adult 

 developing sagittal crest; Palmer pads largely bare; toes partly webbed.* 



Putorius vison lutreocephalus (Harlan). 

 Mink. Harlan's Mink. 



Mustela lutreocephalus Harlan, Fauna Americana, 1825, p. 63. 



Putorius vison Lapham, Trans. Wis. State Agr. Soc., II, 1852 (1853), p. 338 (Wis- 

 consin). Kennicott, Trans. 111. State Agr. Soc, 1853-54 (1855), p. 578 (Cook 

 Co. Illinois). Ih., Agr. Rept. for 1857, U. S. Patent Office Rept., 1858, p. loi. 

 Miles, Rept. Geol. Surv. Mich., I, i860 (1861), p. 220 (Michigan). Strong, 

 Geol. Wis., Surv. 1873-79, I> 1883, p. 437 (Wisconsin). Herrick, Geol. & Nat. 

 Hist. Surv. Minn., Bull. No. 7, 1892, p. 118 (Minnesota). Evermann& Butler, 

 Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci., 1893 (1894), p. 137 (Indiana). 



Lutreola vison Rhoads, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1896 (1897), p. 198 (Tennessee). 

 Snyder, Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc, II, 1902, p. 125 (Wisconsin). 



Lutreola vison lutreocephalus Hahn, Ann. Rept. Dept. Geol. & Nat. Resources Ind., 

 1908 (1909), p. 581 (Indiana). 



Putorius lutreolus Allen, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., XIII, 1869 (1871), p. 183 

 (Iowa). 



Type locality — Maryland. 



Distribution — Greater portion of North America, north to about 

 latitude 52°, except in the Southeastern states from Tennessee and 

 North Carolina southward where it is replaced by P. v. vulgivagus; 

 and somewhere north of Pennsylvania and east of the Great Lakes 

 where it intergrades with P. vison. The limits of its northeastern 

 range have not been definitely determined. 



Description — General color nearly uniform umber brown ; dorsal area 

 usually darker than the sides ; tail dark brown or blackish brown ; chin 

 white and usually an irregular white spot on chest; rest of under 

 parts brown occasionally with one or more irregular white patches 

 on belly. Individual specimens vary greatly in size and the females 

 are decidedly smaller than the males, but may always be distin- 

 guished from Weasels by the brown belly and more bushy tail. 



Measurements — Total length (male), generally from 23.50 to 25 in. 

 (500 to 627 mm.); tail vertebras, 7 to 8.25 in. (178 to 209 mm.); 

 hind foot, 2.50 to 2.75 in. (63 to 70 mm.). 



* Considered a full genus by some authorities. 



