84 MtrSTELID^. 



tt The upper hinder tubercular grinder quadrate, rather longer on the 

 inner than on the outer side. 



6. Martes americana. (American Sable.) B.M. 



Brown, or yello-w ; throat yellow ; ears and head grey or white ; 

 upper tubercular grinder small. 



Mustela americana, Turton, Syst. Anim. i. p. 60, 1803 ; Baird, Mamm. 



N. Amer. t. 36. f. 2, t. 27. f. 7. 

 Muatela martes, var., /. Sabine, Franklin's Voyage; Michardson, F. 



B.-Amer. 

 ? Mustela vulpina, Ba/mesque, Silliman's Amer. Journ. Sci. i. (tip of 



tail white). 

 Mustela zibellina, var. americana, Brandt, Zobel.. 

 Mustela leucopus, Oerrard, Cat. Bones B. M. p. 91. 

 Martes americana, Gray, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 106. 



Var. 1. ahietinoides. Black -brown ; ears pale ; head grizzled with 

 white hairs, more or less grey ; throat yeUow or yellow-spotted ; 

 throat-spot large or broken up into small spots ; the head sometimes 

 with only a few grey hairs, and the throat with only a few distinct 

 small spots. B.M. 



? Martes vulpina, Bafinesque. 



Hah. Eocky Mountains (Drummond ^ Lord). 



Var. 2. huro. YeUow-brown ; head and ears whitish ; throat pale 

 yeUow ; legs, feet, and tail blackish. B.M. 



Mustela huro, -F. Cuviei; Diet. Sci. Nat, xxix. p. 356 ; Bichardson, 



Zool. Beechey's Voyage. 

 Marten of Hudson's Fur-list. 

 Sable of American traders. 



Hah. Fort Franklin. 



Var. 3. leucopus. The head, neck, and chest more white ; legs 

 yellow ; feet white at the tip. B.M. 



Mustela leucopus, Kuhl, Beitr. p. 70. 



Mustela leucotis, Griffith's An. K. ii. p. 270, t. (misprint ?). 



M. Brandt observes, " I can find no difference between the Asiatic 

 and American Sables in the characters of the head, ears, tail, or 

 feet ; and as, even in respect to colour, the Sable of the Nischnaga 

 Tunzustca, sent home by Middendorff, occupies an intermediate posi- 

 tion between the dark Asiatic and the yeUow American Sables, I 

 am induced to consider the American animal rather as a yellowish 

 or mere yellow -brown and less densely furred variety of the Asiatic 

 Sable than as a distinct species or as a pure Marten {Mustela martes)." 

 — Bdtr. Saugeth. Sussland, 1855. 



Dr. Baird observes, " I am myself, however, far from admitting the 

 identity of the American Marten with the Kussian Sable, although it 

 occupies a position intermediate between the latter and M. martes in 

 size, length of tail, and coloration as well as intrinsic value of fur. 

 Ihe white-headed varieties of New York are most like the Sable, and 



