THE WEASEL FAMILY 157 



incorrect to suppose that this name was derived from the Latin 

 viverra. The common type of ferret is usually an albino, 

 yellowish-white in colour, with pink eyes ; but not infrequently 

 the ferret reverts to a type of coloration very similar to the 

 polecat, and the two creatures will interbreed. 



The polecat is apparently an older species than the weasel or 

 the stoat. It, or a closely allied form, is found in the Pliocene 

 deposits in Central France, and in England its remains are 

 obtained from the uppermost Pliocene deposits of Suffolk. Its 

 remains are also obtained from the Pleistocene deposits of Devon- 

 shire and the various British caves. It has apparently not been 

 found fossil in either Scotland or Ireland. 



Tutorius ermineus. The Stoat or Ermine 



The stoat and the weasel differ from the Polecat Mink 

 section of the genus in little more than size and coloration. 

 The blackish-brown of the polecat's body, with its tendency to 

 a black belly, is replaced by the clearly defined reddish-brown 

 upper parts and the almost pure white ot the lower portions of 

 the body in stoats and weasels. The last-named Mustelids, also, 

 are markedly smaller in their size. The tail is less bushy, and 

 the feet are so much more covered with hair that the claws are 

 scarcely visible. 



The Common Stoat is a handsome little creature, nearly 1 1 in. 

 long from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail in a full- 

 grown male. The female is a good deal smaller, since she only 

 measures about 9 in. in the length of the head and body. The 

 tail in a male may be about 6\ in. long, as against something 

 under 5 in. in the female. The body has the characteristic 

 weasel proportions of great length compared with the short limbs. 

 It is less plantigrade than the polecat, and runs more on its 

 toes than on the full length of the foot. Its general method of 

 progress is by a series of bounds or a long gallop. Its colour 

 in the summer dress is reddish-brown above and white (some- 

 times tinted with lemon) below. The edge of the ears, and 

 sometimes the hair along the tips of the toes, is white. The 



