﻿MONOCxRAPH 



THE BRITISH MAMMALIA 



PLEISTOCENE PERIOD 



THE MUSTELID.5C. 



Order-CARNIVORA. 



Family— MUSTELID^. 

 I. INTRODUCTION. 



The Pleistocene Mustelidse, 1 which form the subject of the present memoir, are 

 an easier group to deal with than either the Ursidas or Canidas, not showing the 

 variability and inconstancy of character which render it so difficult to come to a 

 satisfactory conclusion about the mutual relationship of the members of the above 

 groups. Including, as the group does, the glutton, badger, and otter, in addition 

 to the Mustelinse (marten, polecat, stoat, weasel, etc.), it is somewhat too extensive 

 and diverse to be conveniently treated from the historical aspect as a single entity. 

 In the following paragraphs only the literature of a more general character will 

 be referred to, each species being subsequently considered separately. 



As was the case with the bears and hyasnas, the remains from the great 

 Continental caves attracted attention at an earlier date than those of Britain, 

 Gloldfuss 2 recording bones of the glutton from the caves of Gailenreuth in 1818 



1 As in a previous memoir dealing- with the Pleistocene Canidse, the classification and nomencla- 

 ture adopted are those of Flower and Lydekker, ' An Introduction to the Study of Mammalia, Living 

 and Extinct' (1891). The generic name Mustela is employed in a wider sense than is now usual, 

 most zoologists adopting Nilsson's name Putorius for the polecat, stoat and weasel. 



2 ' Nova Acta Acad. Caes. Leop.,' ix, 1818, p. 313, and ' Saugethiere der Vorwelt,' p. 468. 



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