36 



12, 59.— Ames, Bull. Minn. Acad. Nat Sci., 1874, 69.— Coues and 



Yarrow, Zool. Expl. W. 100 Merid., v. 1875, 60.— Allen, Bull. U. 



S. Geol. Sur., toI. ii, No. 4, 1876, 326 (skull.)— Jordan, Man. 



Vert., 2d. ed, 1878, 18. 

 1806. Mustela minx, Turt., S. N., i, 1806, 58.— Ord, Guthr. Geog., 2d Am. 



ed , ii, 1815, 291, 298. 

 1825. Mustela lutreocephala, Harl., Fn. Amer., 1825, 63. 



1843. Vison lutreola, Gray, List Mamm. Br. Mus., 1843, 64 (partly). — Gerr., 



Cat. Bones Br. Mus., 1862, 92 (partly.) 



1844. Mustela {iMtreola) lutreola var. americana, Schinz, Syn. Mamm., i, 



1844, 347. 

 1869. Putorius intreolus [Cuv. J, Allen, Bull. M. C. Z., i, 1869, 175 (critical) ; 



ii, 1870, 169 (Florida).- Allen, Pr. Bost. Soc. N. H., xiii, 169, 



183.— Jordan, Man. Vert., 1876. 

 1874. Putorius lustreolus var. vison, Allen, Bull. Ees. Inst., vi, 1874, 54, 



59, 62. 

 1877. Putorius (Lutreola) vison, Coues, Mon. N. A. Mus., 1877, 160. 



Habitat. — North America at large. North to the Arctic coast, but not 

 abundant north of Fort Resolution. 



Specific Characters. — Larger and stouter than the Stoats ; ears shorter ; 

 tail uniformly busby, nearly as in Mustela; feet semipalmate ; color 

 dark chestnut-brown ; tail, and usually a dorsal area, blackish ; chin 

 white; the edges of the upper lip rarely also white; the throat, breast, 

 and belly often with irregular white patches ; length fifteen to eighteen 

 inches ; tail- vertebrae six to eight inches. 



External Appearance. — The Mink differs from the Stoats and true Wea- 

 sels in its larger size, stouter form, and lower ears. It is adapted to its 

 eminently aquatic life, and, indeed, related to the Otters by its close-set 

 and felted under-fur, which readily resists the water, by its half- webbed 

 toes, short ears, and bristly, glossy pelage. Indeed, the specific name 

 Lutreola, or " Little Otter," given to the European species by Linnaeus, is 

 especially appropriate. The dentition is essentially that ot the genus 

 Putorius. It shares with the Martens the uniformly enlarged, bushy, and 

 somewhat tapering tail, in place of the slender terete tail, with enlarged, 

 bushy tip of the Stoats. It is a true Weasel, however, witb thirty-four 

 teeth — not a Marten, which has thirty-eight. The pelage consists of a 

 dense, soft, matted under-fur, intermingled with long, rigid, shining 

 hairs. The gloss is greatest above ; on the tail the oristly hairs are in 

 excess. The whiskers are in four or five series, the longest reaching op- 

 posite the occiput. Bristles grow also on the middle of the chin, on the 

 cheeks, over and behind the eyes, and usually on the wrists and ankles. 



