240 ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 
Martens are, however, known to vary greatly in the 
markings of their throat in the fur countries of America, 
where they are so abundant that upwards of a hundred 
thousand skins are annually collected. 
Such are the specimens of Martens contained in the 
Society’s Museum. Other individuals exhibiting similar 
variations in their colourmg and markings have been 
observed by us in various collections ; but 1t would be 
useless to multiply descriptions leading to no conclusive 
result. If the Beech and Pine Martens of our own 
country be distinct, it is probable that the last described 
animal may also belong to a different species from either. 
We do not, however, hesitate to declare our opinion 
that the true Sable of Pallas is still a stranger to our 
collections ; and we have good reason, in the silence 
of authors respecting it, for believing that it 1s equally 
unknown to the zoologists of the continent. It is cer- 
tainly not a little singular that an animal so highly 
valued and so anxiously sought after should still be a 
desideratum to the scientific world; but it is perhaps 
no less so that the opinion which has been so lightly 
adopted with respect to such well known animals as 
the indigenous Martens should never yet have been put 
to the test of direct experiment. 
