22 



domesticated animals of more importance, or whose habits have been 

 more carefully observed. 



The closest affinities of the Weasels are with the Bears, nest with the 

 Cats. They stand in the carnivorous series between the Canidae and the 

 Ursidas. In size they are medium or small, ranging from the Wolverine, 

 weighing thirty to forty pounds, to the least Weasel, but six or seven 

 inehes long, and weighing three or four ounces. The feet may be either 

 plantigrade or digitigrade, and, in the Otters, with the toes palmate, 

 adapted for swimming. The feet may be naked or hairy, with or without 

 naked pads ; but this does not indicate whether the animal is digitigrade 

 or plantigrade. (Wagner.) 



Some are strictly carnivorous; the Otters are piscivorous, while others 

 are omnivorous. The anal glands, with which most species are supplied, 

 secrete a foetid liquid, which reaches the maximum of ofifensiveness in 

 the American Skunks. 



The diagnostic characters of the family are taken mainly from the 

 molar teeth, and are as follows : 



Family Characters. — Carnivora, with a single tubercular molar tooth 

 only, on either side of each jaw ; the sectorial pre-molar of typical shape 

 (rarely, in Enhydrinse, with blunt tubercles). Molars |:| (in Old World 

 genus Mellivora \z\). Feet five-toed plantigrade or digitigrade. Ceecum 

 wanting, as in Ursidas. 



Sub-families and Distribution. — The Mustelidse include, according to Dr. 

 Gill, eight sub-families, three of which, namely, Mdlivorinse, Zorillinie, and 

 Helictidinas, are confined to the Old World. The remaining five sub-families 

 Mustelinse — Wolverines, Martens, and true Weasels; Mephilinae — the 

 Skunks; Melinx — the Badgers; Lutrima — the Otters; Enhydrinse — the Sea 

 Otter, are neither of them peculiar to North America. Mustelinse and Lu- 

 trinas are of general distribution in both hemispheres; the lone repre- 

 sentative of Enhydrinse, the Sea Otter, is found on both coasts of the 

 North Pacific. The Badgers do not occur in South America, but are com- 

 mon in th« Old World. The three genera of Skunks found in North and 

 South America are absent from the Old World, but are replaced by the Afri- 

 can Zorillinse. 



Four of the subfamilies are represented in Ohio — Mustelinas, by 

 the Martens and Weasels; Mephitinae, by the Skunks; Melinss,'hj the 

 Badgers ; and Lutrinie, by the Otters. Of the seven genera and twenty- 

 three species recognized by Professor Baird (Mam. N. A., 1857), Dr. Coues 

 (Mon. N. A. Mus.) admits sixteen species distributed in eight genera. 

 Six species of this family, representing five genera — the Fisher, Mustela 

 j)ennanti; the Common Weasel, Putorius erminea; the Common Mink, Pu- 



