34* CLASS MAMMALIA. 



The Polecats (Tutoricjs, Cuv.) 



Are the most sanguinary of all. Their carnivorous 

 tooth below has no interior tubercle ; the tuberculous 

 tooth above is more broad than long. They have 

 only two false molars above and three below. As to 

 their exterior, they may be easily recognised by 

 their muzzle being rather shorter and more thick than 

 that of the martens. They all diffuse an infectious 

 odour. 



The common Polecat ( Mustela putoriuSj L.) Buff. VII. xxni. 



Brown, the flanks yellow, with white spots 

 upon the head. The terror of hen-roosts and 

 warrens. 



The Ferret. (Mustela furo, L.) Buff. VII. xxv. xxvi. 



Yellowish, with red eyes, is perhaps only a 

 variety of the polecat. In France we find it 

 only in a domesticated state, and it is employed 

 to pursue rabbits into their burrows. It comes 

 to us from Spain and Barbary. 



The Polecat of Poland, or Perouasca. (Mustela Sarmatica.) 

 Pall. Spic. Zool. XIV. iv. 1, Schreb. CXXXIL 



Brown, spotted all over with yellow and white. 

 Its skin is much employed in the fur trade, on 

 account of its beautiful variegation. It inhabits 

 all the southern part of Russia, Asia Minor* 

 and the coasts of the Caspian Sea. 



To the polecats also must be referred two 

 small species of our climates. 



