100 MAMMALIA. 
is more broad than long; there are only two false molars above and 
three below. These animals are externally recognised by their 
muzzle, which is shorter and thicker than that of the Weasel. They 
all diffuse a most horrible stench. 
Mustela putorius, L.., Buff. VII, xiii. (The Common Pole- 
cat.) Brown; flanks yellowish; white spots on the head; the 
terror of poultry-yards and warrens. 
M. furo, L., Buff. VII, xxv and xxvi. (The Ferret.) Yel- 
lowish, with rose-coloured eyes, and is perhaps a mere variety 
of the Polecat. It is only found in France in a domesticated 
state, and is employed to ferret out the rabbits from their holes. 
It comes from Spain and Barbary. 
M. sarmatica; The Perouasca; Pall. Spic. Zool. XIV, iveks 
Schreb. CXXXII. (The Sarmatian Weasel.) Brown; every- 
where spotted with yellow and white. So beautifully is the skin 
mottled, that it is in high request among furriers. It is found 
throughout all southern Russia, Asia Minor, and the coast of 
the Caspian sea. 
M. sibirica, Pall. Spic. Zool. XIV, iv, 2. (The Siberian 
Polecat.) A uniform light fawn colour; nose and circumfe- 
rence of the eyes brown; end of the muzzle and the under part 
of the lower jaw white. 
It is also to this subdivision that we must refer two small 
European species: 
M. vulgaris, L., Buff. VII, xxix, 1. (The Weasel.) Ofa 
uniform red, and the 
M. erminea, L., Buff. VII, xxix, 2, and xxxi, 1. (The Stoat.) 
Red in summer, white in winter; end of the tail always black. 
Skin much used by furriers. 
We should also place near it the 
M. lutreola, Pall. Spic. Zool. XI, 1; Leche, Stock. Mem., 
1739, pl. xi; Schreb. CX XVII. (The Mink or Norek.) It 
frequents the shores of rivers, &c., in the north and east of Eu- 
rope from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea, and lives on 
frogs and crabs. The feet are slightly palmated at the base of 
the toes, but the teeth and round tail approximate it nearer 
to the Polecat than the Otter. It is of a reddish brown; the 
circumference of the lips and the under part of the jaw white 5 3 
it exhales a musky odour, and is much esteemed for its #laig 
known fur. © 
The above animal is considered by some to be the same as the 
Polecat of the North American rivers, also called the Mink, 
whose feet are likewise semi-palmated ; but the only white 
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