﻿6 PLEISTOCENE MAMMALIA. 



remains from Grailenreuth. The descriptions of the bones of polecats by Cornalia 

 (1870), Woldrich (1880 and 1883), Hensel (1881), Boule and Chauvet (1899), have 

 been sufficiently dealt with under the head of Mustela robusta, and need not be 

 repeated here. 



Mustela erminea, the Stoat or Ermine. 



The fact of the stoat being a member of the British Pleistocene cave-fauna was 

 established by Owen, 1 who figured a skull from Berry Head, near Brixham. The 

 teeth and larger of the jaws figured by Buckland 2 from the Kirkdale cave as weasel, 

 were shown by Owen 1 to be those of the stoat. It was obtained by McEnery 3 from 

 Kent's Hole, Torquay, and by Falconer 4 from Bacon Hole, Gower, while Scharff 

 recorded it from the Kesh 5 caves, co. Sligo, and the Newhall and Edenvale 6 caves, 

 co. Clare. 



Early continental records of the occurrence of Mustela erminea are, to say the 

 least, very scanty. Neither Cuvier, de Blainville, nor Schmerling refer to it. 

 Liebe 7 (1879) records it from Vypustek, Woldrich 8 (1882, 1884, 1888) from 

 Zuzlawitz, Winterfeld 9 (1886) from 0. Euzsin, in Hungary. 



Mustela vulgaris, tije Weasel. 



Though it cannot be doubted that the remains of the weasel have occurred in 

 many British Pleistocene deposits, the records are very scanty. Buckland 10 

 recorded it from the Kirkdale cave, but, as Owen 11 pointed out, the teeth and jaws 

 figured by him are in the main too large for the weasel, and should be attributed to 

 the stoat. The smallest mandible figured ('E,el. Div.,' pi. xxiii, fig. 12) may belong 

 to the weasel. McEnery 12 figured a skull from Kent's cave, which he attributed to 

 the weasel, and de Blainville 13 assented as to the correctness of this determination ; 

 Owen, 14 however, attributed McEnery's specimen to the stoat, and in this was 



1 ' Brit. Foss. Mammals and Birds ' (1846), p. 116 et. seq. 



2 ' Eeliq. Diluv. ' (1824), pi. vi, figs. 28, 29, and pi. xxiii, figs. 11, 13. 



3 ' Cavern Researches ' (1859), pi. E, fig. 17. * ' Pal. Mem. ' (1868), p. 525. 

 5 ' Trans. Boy. Irish Acad.,' xxxii, B, pt. 4, p. 205. 6 Ibid., xxxiii, B, pt. 1, p. 40. 



7 ' Sitzb. k. Akad. Wiss. Wien,' lxxix, pt. 1, p. 477. 



8 Ibid., lxxxii, pt. 1, p. 35 ; lxxxiv, pt. 1, p. 199 ; and lxxxviii, pt. 1, p. 997. 

 <J ' Ueber quartiire Mustelidenreste Deutschlands ' (1886), p. 25. 



10 ' Eeliq. Diluv.,' table facing p. 1 and description of pis. vi and xxiii (1824). 



; i ' Brit. Foss. Mamm. and Birds ' (1846), p. 117. 



12 'Cavern Researches ' (1859), pi. E, fig. 17. 13 ' Osteographie — Carnassiers, Mustela,' p. 59. 



ii ' Brit, Foss. Mamm. and Birds ' (1846), p. 117. 



