MUSTELA STEIGID0B3A. 85 



daringness. So soon as it is loosed it rushes up the fowl's tail or the 

 goat's leg, and seizes the great artery of the neck, nor ever quits its hold 

 till the yictim sinks under exhaustion from loss of blood." 



99. Mustela strigidorsa. 



Hodgson, apud Hoesfield, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist 1855 — P. Z. S. 

 1856, pi. XLIX. 



The Striped Weasel. 



Descr. — Intense brown, with lips, head and neck inferiorly, and a dorsal 

 and ventral stripe yellowish white or pale aureous. 



Length, snout to vent, 12 inches ; tail 5-^, with the hair 1 inch more. 



Larger than M. kathiah. Horsfield states that in one specimen sent to 

 the East India Museum, the brown has a shade of chesnut, and the under 

 parts of the|,head, neck and breast are nearly white, with a shght isabeUine 

 discoloration. 



This weasel was procured by Hodgson in Sikim. If the dorsal stripe 

 were not uniformly present, it might be taken merely for a variety of 

 M. kathiah. 



Gray has described M. Horsfieldii from Bootan, uniform dark blackish- 

 brown, very Uttle paler beneath ; and middle of the front of the chin, and 

 the lower lips white ; tail slender, blackish at the tip ; half as long as the 

 head and body. This is very probably a dark race of Mustela suh-hemacha- 

 lana, such as was obtained by Hodgson in Nepal, and of which there is a 

 drawing in the British Museum. 



Hodgson has described two other weasels from Tibet, Mustela temon, 

 brownish-fawn above, pure yellow beneath ; head and limbs canescent. 

 Length, head body 9^ inches; tail 6^ ; fur, short, soft. 



M. canigula, cinnamon-red, head and neck below hoary ; whiskers small 

 and rigid. Length, head and body, 15^ inches ; tail 91. 



A weasel is described from the Malayan peninsula and Java, M. nudipes, 

 F. Cuvier ; M. sarmatica, Pallas, of Northern and Central Asia, has been 

 procured in Afghanistan ; and M. sibirica, Pallas {M. Hodgsoni, Gray), 

 has been sent from China. 



M. putorius, L., the polecat of Europe, of which the ferret is consi- 

 dered to be a domestic variety, has been made the type of the genus 

 Putorius,' P. Cuvier; and a race nearly allied has been described by 

 Hodgson, as Putmus tibetanus, dim Mustela larvata, from Tibet, 



