222 On a new species of Mustela. 



a weasel or mustela, I purpose to give a summary descrip- 

 tion and sketch of it. The fineness of the fur, the full 

 spreading tail, and the pointed and splendidly tufted ears, 

 must give the animal in life much the aspect of a squirrel, 

 if indeed it be not one in fact. But, on the other hand, the 

 vermiform figure and well-knit, compact, and purely digiti- 

 grade extremities, countenance the assertion of the traders, 

 that the animal is a weasel or congener of our Mustela 

 Kathia vel Auriventer ; which latter, they are well acquaint- 

 ed with at home, as they are with our present subject in 

 their travels. It is said to be found both in the snowy re- 

 gion, and beyond it in Tibet and China, where it prefers 

 rocky and waste situations. The animal must be about a 

 foot long from snout to rump, with a tail of eight inches, or 

 ten and a half with the terminal hair. The mean height 

 from four to five inches, the head in length from two to three ; 

 and the ears without their tufts, quarter to one inch ; with 

 them, two and three quarter inches. The tail is very full, 

 and rather distichous, like a squirrel's. The ear-tufts, which 

 also are sciurine in their character, spring from and conceal 

 the whole helix, which they far exceed in length, and in fact 

 are equal to the length of the head. The fur is thick, 

 abundant, soft, and of two sorts; the longer piles of hair 

 being about three-fourths to one inch long, and rather scan- 

 tier than the inner or woolly ones, which have about two- 

 thirds of their length. On the tail and ear-tufts the hair 

 alone is found, and it is upon the tail stronger and more 

 glossy than upon the body, though still without hardness. 

 The longest hairs of the tail are from two and half to two 

 and three-quarter inch long — the longest on the ears, (where 

 they are softer,) something less than two inches. The face 

 and limbs are dressed in a close adpressed short vest in which 

 the hairy piles only can be palpably traced. The colour of 

 the animal is a full clear slaty blue, varied or speckled with 

 hoary, an effect resulting from the vague annulation of each 



