116 . On the Wood-Chuck. 



" May we here be allowed to detain you, kind reader, for a few 

 moments, whilst we reflect on this, one among thousands of other 

 instances of the all-wise dispensations of the Creator. Could any of 

 the smaller species of quadrupeds, incapable, as many of them are, 

 of migrating like the swift-winged inhabitants of the air to the 

 sunny climes of the South, and equally unable to find any thing 

 to subsist on among the dreary wastes of snow, or the frost-bound 

 lands of the North during winter, have a greater boon at the hands 

 of Nature than this power of escaping the rigours and cold blasts 

 of that season, and resting securely, in asleep of insensibility, free 

 from all cravings of hunger and all danger of perishing with cold, 

 till the warm sun of spring, once more calls them into life and ac- 

 tivity ? Thus this and several other species of quadrupeds, whose 

 organization in this respect differs so widely from general rules, 

 may be said to have no winter in their year, but enjoy the delight- 

 ful weather of spring, summer, and autumn, without caring for the 

 approach of that season during which other animals often suffer 

 from both cold and hunger." 



ARTICLE XIV.— Ow the ''Fisher'' or PeJcan. '' Pennant's Mar- 

 tenP (^Mustela Canadensis.) 



GENUS MUSTELA.— Cuv. 



DENTAL FORMULA. 



Incisive | ; Canine i — i ; Molar f^f = 38. 



" Head, small and oval ; muzzle, rather large ; ears, short and 

 round ; body, long, vermiform ; tail, usually long -and cylindrical ; 

 legs, short ; five toes on each foot, armed with sharp, crooked, 

 slightly retractile claws. No anal pouch, but a small gland which 

 secretes a thickish offensive fluid. Fur, very fine. 



"This genus differs from the genus Putorius, having four carni- 

 vorous teeth on each side, in the upper jaw, instead of three, the 

 number the true weasels exhibit, and the last carnivorous tooth 

 on the lower jaw, has a rounded lobe on the inner side, which ren- 

 ders this genus somewhat less carnivorous in its habit than Puto- 

 Bius, and consequently a slight diminution of the cruelty and 



