386 CARNIVORA 
smaller forms distinguished by having only three premolars in each 
jaw, by the absence of an inner cusp to the blade of the lower 
carnassial, as well as by certain external characters. This group 
contains a few species known as Minks, differing from the rest by 
slight structural modifications, and especially by their semiaquatic 
habits. They are distinguished from the Polecats, Stoats, and 
Weasels, which constitute the remainder of the group, by the facial 
part of the skull being narrower and more approaching in form 
that of the Martens, by the premolar teeth (especially the anterior 
one in the upper jaw) being larger, by the toes being partially 
webbed, and by the absence of hair in the intervals between the 
naked pads of the soles of the feet. The two best-known species, 
so much alike in size, form, colour, and habits that although they 
are widely separated geographically some zoologists question their 
specific distinction, are M. lutreola, the Nérz or Sumpfotter (Marsh- 
Otter) of Eastern Europe, and M. vison, the Mink of North America. 
The former inhabits Finland, Poland, and the greater part of 
Russia, though not found east of the Ural Mountains. Formerly 
it extended westward into Central Germany, but it is now very 
rare, if not extinct, in that country. The latter is found in places 
which suit its habits throughout the whole of North America. 
Another form, Jf. sibirica, from Eastern Asia, of which much less is 
known, appears to connect the true Minks with the Polecats. 
For the following description, chiefly taken from the American 
form (though almost equally applicable to that of Europe), we 
are mainly indebted to Dr. Coues’s Fur-bearing Animals of North 
America. In size it much resembles the English Polecat,—the length 
of the head and body being usually from 15 to 18 inches, that of the 
tail to the end of the hair about 9 inches. The female is consider- 
ably smaller than the male. The tail is bushy, but tapering at the 
end. The ears are small, low, rounded, and scarcely project beyond 
the adjacent fur. The pellage consists of a dense, soft, matted under 
fur, mixed with long, stiff, lustrous hairs on all parts of the body 
and tail. The gloss is greatest on the upper parts; on the tail the 
bristly hairs predominate. Northern specimens have the finest and 
most glistening pellage ; in those from southern regions there is less 
difference between the under and over fur, and the whole pellage 
is coarser and harsher. In colour different specimens present a 
- considerable range of variation, but the animal is ordinarily of a rich 
dark brown, scarcely or not paler below than on the general upper 
parts ; but the back is usually the darkest, and the tail is nearly 
black. The under jaw, from the chin about as far back as the angle 
of the mouth, is generally white. In the European Mink the upper 
lip is also white, but as this occasionally occurs in American speci- 
mens it fails as an absolutely distinguishing character. Besides the 
white on the chin, there are often other irregular white patches 
