66 ISrOETH AMERICAN FAUNA. [No. 22, 



lutreola vison laeustris subsp. nov. Keewatin Mink. 



Tti]}(' from Echimamish River (near Painted Stone) Keewatin, Canada. $ yg. 

 ad. (skin and skull) , No. ]06872, U. S. Nat. "Slwf., Biological Survey collec- 

 tion. Collet'ted September 14, 1900, by Alfred E. and Edward A. Preble. 

 Original number, 3518. 



General cliariicti'i'i<. — Similar to Lufreohi vlson but larger; skull 

 more angular. 



Skull. — Compared with skulls of vis<»t,tvom the Adirondack Moun- 

 tain.s and New England (assumed to be tj'pical) a large series from 

 Oxford House and the surrounding region differ as follows: jNIore 

 angular and much larger, those of males of viwn hardly equaling 

 those of females of hjcvstri><; sagittal ridge highly developed; zygo- 

 mata strongly bowed outward; dentition heavier than in vison; bullse 

 large and rather flat, inner anterior corner produced toward pterygoids 

 and ending in a rather acute angle. 



C'ohir. — Type: Upperparts verj' dark chocolate brown; underparts 

 lighter; chin and a narrow, irregular, and partially broken stripe 

 extending to lower part of breast, white; a little white between hind 

 legs. 



MeaHitremeiits. — Tj'pe: Total length 560; tail vertebrae 190; hind 

 foot 67. Adult female from Swampy Lake: 540; 180; 60. Average 

 of five immature but well-grown individuals of both sexes: 549; 153; 

 64.8. Skull: Average of ten adults (probably males) from Oxford 

 House: Occipito-nasal length 62.5; zygomatic breadth 41.25; inter- 

 orbital constriction 11.9; breadth across postorbital processes 18.25; 

 mastoid breadth 36.1, 



HemrirJiS. — Minks seem to be common and quite generallj- distrib- 

 uted throughout the region between Lake Winnipeg and Hudson Bay. 

 They are annuallj' traded at all the posts, and at all except Fort 

 Churchill in large numbers. A few skins were seen in the storehouse ^ 

 at Fort Churchill, and Mr. Chapman, the resident missionaiy, saw a 

 mink a few miles up Churchill River late in July. We trapped an 

 adult female at Oxford House and another on the shore of Swampy 

 Lake, and while traveling through the lakes on our return journe}^ 

 early in September shot several that were swimming across ri^'ers or 

 between the islands of the lakes. These were mainly immature. The 

 Indians say that when traveling through the lakes at this season they 

 always see minks, and that these are young of the year that are leav- 

 ing the place of their birth and starting out for themselves. We were 

 usuall}^ able to approach quite near before they took alarm and dived, 

 and as they came to the surface within 15 or 20 yards they fell an 

 easy prey. 



The specimens composing the series show more white than is usual 

 in vison, the average excess appearing in the type. 



