THE IRISH STOAT DISTINCT FROM THE BRITISH. 125 



both the anterior and posterior digits are also whitish, often 

 continuously so with the ground-colour of the belly. It should 

 be added also that the white of the under side has always more 

 or less a yellow hue, at least in the adult. 



With this description agrees not only ever}' Scotch and 

 English specimen we have examined, but also all we have been 

 able to see from the northern parts of the Continent, including 

 some from such widely remote countries as Norway, Hungary, 

 and West Siberia, while even those from North- West America 

 have a precisely similar arrangement of colour on the dorsal and 

 ventral surfaces. 



But, as pointed out to us by Mr. Bangs, specimens from the 

 Eastern United States are characterized by a reduced extension 

 of the light-coloured portion of the body and limbs, and it has 

 therefore been somewhat surprising to find that such examples 

 from Ireland as we have examined agree in these respects, not 

 with the British, but with the American Stoat. This resemblance, 

 however interesting, is clearly not a sign of specific identity with 

 the American Stoat, for in other respects (such as its greater 

 size, longer tail, and the details of coloration) the latter is so 

 distinct from the Irish form that no further reference to it is 

 here necessary. 



But in its relation to the British Stoat, viewed in connection 

 with the remarkable uniformity in colour of the latter, we cannot 

 consider the Irish form as referable to the same species, and 

 would propose to distinguish it as follows: — 



PUTORIUS HIBERNICUS, Sp. U. 



Smaller than P. ermineus, the male scarcely exceeding in size 

 the female of that species. Tail rather shorter. Ventral surface 

 white or with a faint tinge of yellow,* and the distribution of the 

 colours very much as in the Weasel, and not as in the Stoat. 

 The white limited beneath the head to the chin and throat, not 

 extending to the upper lip, contracted on the chest to a narrow 

 median line (or even interrupted altogether), and similarly nar- 

 rowed on the belly, but keeping its full breadth across the axillary 

 and inguinal regions. On the fore limbs the white ends about 



* In old male specimens it is as yellow as in the female or immatur 

 Stoats, but, comparing like sexes and ages, P. hibernicus is decidedly less 

 yellow below than P. ermineus. 



