43 



SUBKINGDOM VERTEBEATA. 



Fig. 50. 



PuUmus erminius. Weasel in winter. 



These alterations are effected, not by shedding the coat, but 

 by changes in the color of the hair. Weasels destroy mice, 

 and hence are beneficial to farmers.* 



Putonus erminius. Weasel in summer. J. 



* Their carnivorous propensities are, however, not unfrequently displayed in the 

 hen-roost. An ermine has heen known to kill forty full-grown fowls in a single 



