366 Firtp Museum or Naturat History — Zodrocy, Vor. XI. 
While the Mink cannot eject the odorous secretion of its anal 
glands to a distance, as does the Skunk, the liquid is equally offensive. 
Dr. Elliott Coues says:* ‘‘The peculiar odor which the animals of this 
genus have in common attains in this large and vigorous species a 
surpassing degree of fetor, though of the same quality. No animal in 
this country, except the Skunk, possesses so powerful, penetrating and 
lasting an effluvium. Its strength is fully perceived in taking the animal 
from a trap, or when the Mink is otherwise irritated. Ordinarily the 
scent is not emitted to any noticeable degree; it is under voluntary 
control, and the fact that the Mink spends most of its time in the water 
is another reason why its proximity, even in numbers, is not commonly 
perceived by smell. Both sexes possess the scent bags; they lie in the 
perinzeum, one on each side of the rectum, and open upon a papilla on 
either side of the anus, just within the edge of the external orifice.” 
Unlike the Weasels, the Mink does not turn white in winter. 
Specimens examined from Illinois, Wisconsin and adjoining states: 
Illinois — Warsaw, 1; Deerfield, Lake Co., 1=2. 
‘Indiana — Evansville, 1. 
Michigan — Park Siding, 1 
Wisconsin — (M. P. M.) Wauwatosa, Milwaukee Co., 2; Glidden, 
Ashland Co., 1; Rock Co., 1; (O. C., skulls only) St. Croix River, 
Douglas Co., 2; Mercer, Iron Co., 2; Langlade Co., 4; Turtle Lake, 
Barron Co., 5; Pewaukee, Waukesha Co., 11; Colfax, Dunn Co., 8; 
Fisher Lake, Iron Co., 1= 37. 
Subgenus ICTIS Kaup. 
Body long, slender and close haired; upper parts darker than under 
parts (in summer); soles of feet largely covered with fur. 
Putorius noveboracensis Emmons. 
NEw York WEASEL. ERMINE. 
Putorius noveboracensis Emmons, Rept. Quadr. Mass., 1840, p. 45. KENNICOTT, 
Trans. Hl. State Agr. Soc., I, 1853-54 (1855), p, 578 (Cook Co., Illinois). Ib 
Agr. Rept. for 1857, U. S. Patent Office Rept., 1858, p. 104 (Illinois). MUILEs, 
Rept. Geol. Surv. Mich., I, 1860 (1861), p. 220 (Michigan). StRone, Geol. 
Wis., Surv. 1873-79, I, 1883, P- 436 (Wisconsin). MERRIAM, N. Amer. Fauna, 
No. 11, 1896, p. 7. Ruoaps, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1896 (1897), p. 198 
(Tennessee). SNYDER, Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc., IT, 1902, p. 125 (Wisconsin). 
Jackson, Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc., VI, 1908, p. 29 (Wisconsin). Haun, Ann. 
Rept. Dept. Geol. & Nat. Resources Ind., 1908 (1909), p 585 (Indiana). 
HOWELL, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., XXII, 1909, p. 65 eee Ib., XXIII, 
1910, p. 32 (Illinois, Kentucky). 
Putorius erminea EVERMANN & BuTLER, Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci., 1893 (1894), p. 137 
(Indiana). 
* Fur-bearing Animals, 1887, pp. 173-174. 
