68 NORTH AMERICAN" FAUNA. [No: 22, 



I made inquiries of the fur traders in regard to the species, but none 

 knew it. It is probable, however, that it is found throughout the 

 southern part of the region, and that their ignorance of it results from 

 its fur being considered valueless and consequently not offered in trade. 

 Forster recorded a small weasel sent from Hudson Bay by Mr. 

 Graham, which was undoubtedly this species. Its total length is 

 given as 7 inches, and that of its tail as about 1 inch." Bangs 

 recorded a specimen from Fort ,\lbanj'.'' 



Mustela americana abieticola sul>sp. nov. Hudson Bay Marten. 



Type from Cumberland House, Saskatchewan. $ ad. (skin and skeleton), 

 ^"o. JfSsS, U. S. Nat. :\Ius. Collected February, 1890, by Roderick 

 MacFarlane. 



General clia/'acfe)'s. — Much larger than Jfuvfela ainerirano ; dentition 

 heavier. 



Slt/II. — Much larger than in JL mnert'cnna- from the Adirondack 

 Mountains and Xew Brunswick; more angular, the sagittal crest being 

 more highljr developed; zygomata more bowed outward posteriorly; 

 dentition much hea\'ier except last upper molar, which is usually about 

 the same size. 



Color. — Type in winter pelage: General color of bodj- rich dark 

 yellowish brown, darkest on middle of back; legs and tail darker, the 

 latter almost black at tip; an irregular blotch and a small spot on 

 chest, ochraceous; face and cheeks grayish brown; ears edged with 

 whitish. 



Jleasiireiiientfi. — Type (estimated from cleaned skeleton): Total 

 length 640; tail vertebrae 210; hind foot 95. Skull (average of six 

 adults from Oxford House): Occipito-nasal length 78.9; zygomatic 

 breadth 47.8; interorbital constriction 16.7; breadth across post- 

 orbital processes 22.5; mastoid breadth .37. S. 



RemarJcs. — The marten is fairly common throughout the region 

 north to the tree limit, but is most abundant in the heavy spruce foi'- 

 ests of the southern part. Many skins were seen at Norwaj' House, 

 Oxford House, and York Factory, and a few at Fort Churchill that 

 were said to have been taken on lower Churchill River. A large 

 series of skulls from Oxford House, Norway House, and Cross Lake, 

 collected in the winter of 1900-1901, and a few from York Factory 

 and Fort Churchill collected by our party, are in the Biological Survey 

 collection. These differ from skulls of tj^pical ^z/jt^y'/tv^^^s to such a 

 degree as to require subspecific separation. A fine skin and skeleton 

 from Cumberland House in the U. S. National Museum has been 

 selected as the type. This form approaches in some of its characters 

 llustela a. actuosa from Alaska, but though smaller has heavier den- 

 tition than that species and consequently more crowded molars. 



«Phil. Trans., LXII, p. 373, 1772. 

 sProc. Biol. Soc. Wash., X, p. 22, 1896. 



