FAMILY MUSTELIDjE. 
31 
GENUS MUSTELA. Cuvier. 
Head small, oval. Fur exceedingly fine. Tail usually long and cylindrical. One addi¬ 
tional molar above and below. 
THE FISHER. 
Mustela canadensis. 
PLATE XIII. FIG. 1. Skull. —(CABINET OF THE LYCEUM ) 
Mustela canadensis. LlN. Gmel. Vol. 1, p. 95. 
The Fisher. Penn. Arct. Zool. Vol. 1, p. 82. 
M. pennanti. Erxleben, System, p. 470. 
M. canadensis. Harlan, Faun. Am. p. 65. 
Pennant’s Marten. Godman, Am. Nat. Hist. Vol. 1, p. 203. 
Pekan or Fisher. Richardson, F. B. A. Vol. 1, p. 52. 
Pekan or Fisher 'Weasel. Emmons, Mass. Report, 1838, p. 24; of 1840, p. 38. 
Black Cat of the New-York hunters. 
Characteristics. Greyish over the head and anterior parts of the body ; dark brown or black 
behind. Tail bushy. The largest of the genus. 
Description. Form of the body typical. Head broad ; nose acute. Ears about three inches 
from the nose, broad, rounded and distant. Canines long, more particularly those of the upper 
jaw; penultimate molar with a process on its inner anterior margin. Fore feet shorter than 
hind feet, robust, and covered with long hair. Soles of the feet thickly covered with short 
hair. Toes connected partially by a short hairy web; the nails sharp, strong, and incurved. 
Tail moderately long, bushy and acuminated at the tip, the hairs reaching two and a half to 
three inches beyond the vertebra. Fur long, fine and lustrous, increasing in length on the 
posterior parts of the animal; it consists of two kinds, a short brown down, and longer and 
more rigid hairs; longer and blacker in winter than in summer. 
Color. The markings are somewhat irregular; and there is a variety which, with the ex¬ 
ception of the nose and feet, is entirely white. The general and more usual distribution of 
the colors is noted in the specific phrase. The long rigid hairs are brown at the base, and 
greyish towards the tips. This greyish color predominates so much on the head, neck, 
shoulders, upper and anterior portions of the body, as to give to those parts a hoary appearance. 
Towards the posterior part of the body, and including the tail, the color deepens into a dark 
brown or jet black. Throat, legs and belly blackish brown, with occasionally a small white 
spot on its throat, and a trace of another on the belly, sometimes unspotted beneath. Chin and 
nose brown. Ears margined with yellowish white. It is said to be lighter in winter than in 
summer. -Length of head and body, 24‘0 ; of tail (vertebra), 11'0. 
The Fisher or Black Cat of our hunters, is a large and powerful animal, standing nearly a 
foot from the ground. It was formerly very abundant in this State, but is now confined to 
