38 



papery texture. With age the skin thickens and toughens, and the 

 pelage grows rusty. 



The " Little Black Mink," moreover, is not characteristic of any cir- 

 cumscribed faunal area. 



"With reference to the specific difference between P. lutreola, of the Old 

 World, and P. vison, Dr. Coues has given the following comparative diag- 

 nosis : 



P. lutreola, — Back npper molar small, qaadrate, transverse, the inner moiety scarcely 

 longer than the outer (fide Gray) ; averaging smaller; upper lip normally white. 



P. vison. — Back npper molar large, with great constriction across the middle, making 

 an hour-glass shape, the inner moiety of which is nearly twice as large as the outer 

 [forty specimens seen] ; a reraging larger ; upper lip normally dark. 



Mr. Allen (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., i, 1869, pp. 175-177) asserted, re- 

 garding the sub-genus Lutreola, that " we have again hut one circumpolar 

 and widely dispersed species, with possibly two continental or geograph- 

 ical races." Examination of the molar teeth and skull afterward 

 satisfied him that, while externally the form cannot be specifically dif- 

 ferentiated, they are in fact distinct species. The Siberian Mink, P. 

 sibericvs, is the remaining Old World species. 



History and Ha'jits. — The history of the Mink begins prior to the bien- 

 nial nomenclure. It is noticed, in Smith's Virginia, 1624, as the " Mink " ; 

 as the "Minx" (Lawson, Carol, 1709); as the "Otay" (Sagard-Theodat, 

 Hist. Canad , 1636) ; as the Foutereaux (La Hontan, 1703, and of the French 

 Canadians). 



The term vison, generally used since Buffon as its specific title, was 

 applied by him in 1765 to a Canadian specimen in M. Aubry's museum, 

 probably the same on which Brisson and Pennant based their descrip- 

 tions. Dr. Coues ingeniously suggests that the identity in form of Mink 

 and Minx, may be more than fortuitous ; Minx, formerly the name of a 

 female puppy, subsequently signified a pert, wanton girl, the forward, 

 prying, and spiteful nature of the animal in question gives a color to the 

 relationship of the terms. 



Since the early authors mentioned, the Mink has appeared in the 

 writings of systematic authors, and has furnished material for several nom- 

 inal species (see synonymy), which have occasioned but little confusion 

 so definite are the zoological characters of the animal. Authors, mistak- 

 ing the number of its teeth (34) have placed it in Mustela, teeth 38. Its 

 peculiarly aquatic nature leads it to seek well watered regions; hence in 

 the dry interior regions they are collected in a few places instead of being 

 uniformly dispersed, so, where found, their numbers are exaggerated. 



Richardson found the Mink on the Mackenzie at 66°, and Audubon 

 states that he has seen it " in every State in the Union." 



