248 



NATURAL HISTORY CDLLECTIONS IX ALASKA. 



place a wicker-work fyke fish-trap at the opening; left for the pnrpose in the middle. The Minba 

 in trying to pass the obstacle enter the funnel-shaped entrance of the trap and soon drown. In 

 a good locality this may occur several times in a day, and in a number of cases that came to my 

 knowledge the hunter obtained from ten to fifteen Minks at a haul when he raised his trap. 



Although the Mink confines itself mainly to a fish diet, yet when opportunity oflers it is very 

 destructive to wild fowl. A tame Mink, kept at Saint Michaels, was turned into a room with a 

 ptarmigan which had a disabled wing. Although the Mink w'as well fed upon fish, yet it no sooner 

 saw the bird than it at once approached and sprang upon and killed its victim with all the ferocity 

 one might expect from a Weasel. Albino specimens occurred about once in every two thousand 

 skins taken by the Eskimo while I was at Saint Michaels. 



The Mink is not very common immediately about Saint Michaels, owing to the pursuit of the 

 natives. At certain seasons of the year a few are killed with spears or arrows, but the number 

 obtained in this manner is unimportant. Their fur becomes prime about the last of October, and 

 begins to bleach the last of March, so that April skins have a harsh brittle fur and rusty color and 

 are of little or no value. 



A good skin brings the native hunter about 50 cents' worth of goods. 



Mink-skins from the Upper Yukon and Kuskoquiin Rivers, and thence south through South- 

 eastern Alaska, are much finer and darker than those from the rest of the Territory, but they 

 rarely equal prime Canadian skins. This species is resident wherever found in the north. 



Mr. Petroff gives 71,213 as the number of mink-skins obtained in all of Alaska, except the 

 southeastern portion, between 1870 and ISSO, but from the number taken at Saint Michaels during 

 my residence there I am convinced that this does not represent one-half the number actually ex- 

 ported, while thousands of worthless skins are taken every year and remain in the natives' hands. 



GuLO Luscus (Linn.). Wolverine (Esk. Kaf-chlk). 



The two skulls of this species obtained are of large size, one having a length of 147""™ and the 

 second of 144™™. The former is evidently the skull of an old male. There is in the National 

 Museum a similar sknll from Fort Anderson, known to be a male, which exactly equals this in 

 length, but is a little narrower, i. e., 98™™,. as against 101™™. 



One of the peculiarities of these skulls is the variation in shape exhibited by the auditory, 

 bullffi. They are not only not alike in the two specimens collected by Mr. Xelson, but in one ot 

 the skulls, No. 21479, the two bullre differ widely from each other in contour. This peculiarity is 

 still more strongly marked in other specimens in the National Museum collection. It is observable 

 also in other species of the family. 



List of specimens. 



Measurements. 



21479. 



Basi-cranial length 



Zygomatic width. ■. 



Least width hetween orbits 



"Width hetween outer surfaces of canines 



Length of "paLito' 



Anterior margin of canine to posterior margin of last molar 



Breadth between exoccipitals 



Greatest len^jth of niandihlo 



Greatest vertical length of mandible 



Breadth of .superior incisors (together) 



Height anterior nares 



Width anterior nares 



