3. MTTSTELA. 89 



rutorius erminea, Owen, Brit. Foss. Mamm. p. 116, f. 40, 41, 42 



(skull). 

 Mustela ermineum, PaMas, Zoogr. i. p. 90; Btiffon, H. N. yii. t. 29. 



1. ^^ X, Ox, 



Stoat or Ermine, Penn. B. Zool. i. pp. 89, 67, f. 18. 

 Hah. Europe, England, France ; Nortt Africa. 



Var. 1. africana. Tail very short, black-tipped, one-sixth the 

 length of body. 



Hah. North Africa, Algiers. B.M. 



Var. 2. Kaneii. 



Putorius Kaneii, Baird, N. J,. Mamm. p. 172; Arch.f. Naturg. 1859, 

 p. 9. 



Hah. Kamtschatka ; Tchucktchi country, Siberia. 



Var. 3. americana. Tail more or less elongate, from one-third 

 to one-half the length of the body. B.M. 



Putorius novehoracensis, Bekay, N. Y. Zool. i. p. 36, t. 12. fig. 2, 

 1. 14. f. 2, 1842 ; Buird, N. A. Mamm. p. 166, t. 36. f. 3 (skull). 



Putorius ermineus. And. 8f Bachm,. N. A. Quad. ii. p. 56, t. 69. 



Mustela Cicognani, Bonap. Fauna Ital. 



Mustela fusca, Bachman, Journ. A. N. S. Philad. viii. p. 288. 



Mustela (Gale) fusca, Schinz, Syn. Mamm. p. 243. 



Mustela vulgaris, Thompson, Hist. Verm. p. 30. 



Putorius fusous, A^id. 8f Bachm. N. A. Quad. iii. p. 234, t. 148. 



Putorius Oicognani, Baird, M. N. A. p. 161. 



Putorius longicauda, Richardson, Zool. Beechey, t. 10, 1839. 



Mustela (Putorius) erminea, var. long-tailed, Richardson, F. B.-A, 

 p. 46, 1829. 



Mustela longicauda, Bonap. Mag. N. H. 1838, p. 38. 



Hah. North America, Carlton House. B.M. 



Bonaparte, Richardson, and Baird have separated the Weasels 

 and Ermines of America and Europe into several species, on minute 

 differences in the length of the tail as compared with the body. 



Dr. Spencer Baird, in his work on the Mammals of North America, 

 divides the Stoats into six species, by the length of the taU and the 

 extent of the black on the taU. By his specific characters, the ver- 

 tebrae of the tail in P. Hichardsonii, P. noveboracensis, and P. longi- 

 cauda are about one-half, in P. Cicognani one-third, in P. ermineus 

 one-fifth, and in P. Kaneii one-sixth the length of the body. 



When the bodies of several English Stoats have been compared, 

 they show how deceptive that character is. I do not say that they 

 may not be distinct ; but, if they are, there must be other charac- 

 ters to separate them besides the mere length of the tail. They are 

 spread over a large extent of country, and some of the presumed 

 species have a large range. 



The skulls of the English Weazel and Stoat are also found to be 

 rather variable when a large series of them are compared. 



They change colour when they live in a cold district, and the fur 

 appears to become finer and denser in the more rigorous climates. 



Dr. Spencer Baird described P. noveboracensis as ha-^dng- 52 ver- 



