TWO NEW RACES OF THE PINE MARTEN FROM 

 THE PACIFIC COAST OF NORTH AMERICA 



BY 



JOSEPH GRINNELL and JOSEPH DIXON 

 (Contribution from the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California) 



In working out the natural history of the fur-bearing mammals 

 of California it has seemed desirable to establish the systematic status 

 of all our species and races in so far as materials and opportunity 

 might permit. Coming to the Pine Martens, our enquiry discloses 

 that there are two well-defined subspecies within the state, one of 

 which appears to be new; and comparisons of this subspecies with 

 other Pacific Coast forms show that there is yet another subspecies 

 that is unnamed, on Vancouver Island. The new races are now 

 characterized, as follows. 



Martes caurina humboldtensis, new subspecies 



Humboldt Pine Marten 



Type locality. — Ridge about five miles northeast of Cuddeback 

 [= Carlotta] , Humboldt County, California. Type, male subadult, 

 skull-only ; no. 19158, Mus. Vert. Zool. ; obtained from local trapper 

 by H. E. Wilder (orig. no. 1368) ; February, 1913. 



Material. — Four skulls-only from the type locality; two skins 

 with skulls (one with complete skeleton) from head of "Terwak" 

 [=: Terwer on U. S. G. S. Preston Peak quadrangle] Creek, 10 miles 

 northeast of Requa, Del Norte County, California. 



Diagnosis. — In general external features, including dark tone of 

 coloration, resembles Martes caurina caurina (C. H. Merriam [1890, 

 p. 27] ) ; decidedly darker, of richer golden brown tone, than M. c. 

 sierrae Grinnell and Storer (1916, p. 2). Skull smaller than in either 

 of these races, with rostrum slender, distinctly constricted behind 

 roots of canines; frontal region and postorbital constriction narrow; 

 teeth small; molariform series not so crowded as in sierrae, so as 

 to skew the premolars ; last upper molar with heel greatly expanded 

 anteroposteriorly, as much so, relatively to transverse diameter of 

 this tooth, as in sierrae, and hence more than in caurina. (See 

 figs. 1-8.) 



