PUEEY FRIENDS WITH FINE SKINS. I13 



day all the skins which are brought into the market 

 come from the far West and N^orthwest. 



But we can not afford to pass the wolverene, or 

 glutton, as he is sometimes called (Gulo luscus), with 

 only a nod of recognition ; he is entirely too in- 

 teresting. His Latin name means "glutton," and 

 his record in literature in this connection is quite 

 unique.* He is the first and largest if not the most 

 important member of the Mustelidm family, that 

 splendid furry tribe whose skins have such a high 

 market value. He is also the most remarkable 

 member of the subfamily MustelincB, which includes 

 the long-bodied, short-legged martens, weasels, ferret, 

 and mink. The skunk, badger, and otter are his 

 more distant relatives, and it certainly would be 

 inexcusably partial to consider these, and not the 

 wolverene. 



This strange animal is from two to three feet long 

 — less than that, so far as general appearances go — 

 with a chunky figure like that of a bear's cub. His 

 coat is shaggy and blackish or dark brown, with light 



* We find it gravely stated that this brute will feast upon the 

 carcass of some large animal until his belly is swollen as tight as 

 a drum, and then get rid of its burden by squeezing himself be- 

 tween two trees, in order that it may return to glut itself anew — 

 an alleged climax of gluttony to which no four-footed beast at- 

 tains, and for the parallel of which we must refer to some of the 

 most noted gormandizers of the Roman Empire. — Fur-bearing 

 Animals. lElliott Coues. 



