CARNIVORA. MUSTELlDiE. 43 



1. Putorius vison. The Mink. 



Foutereau, La Hontan, Voyage, i. p. 81. 



Mink, Kalm. Jour. Minx, Lawson. 



Le Vison, Buffon, xiii. p. 308, t. 43. 



Mnstela lutreola, Foster, Phil. Trans., Ixii. p. 371. 



Minx Otter, Pennant, A ret. Zool., i. p. 87. 



Mnstela vison, Cuvier, Regne Animal., i. p. 150. 



" lutreola, Sabine, Franklin's Journ., p. 652. 

 The Mink, Godman, Nat. Hist., i. p. 206. 



Specific characters. Dark, glossy brown, above and beneath ; 

 fur shortest upon the head, and longest upon the posterior parts 

 of the body ; body greatly elongated, especially the neck ; legs 

 short ; nails white ; usually a white spot beneath the chin ; ears 

 short, and mostly concealed in the fur. 



Description. Head and nose slightly convex ; the latter black, 

 obtuse, and extending beyond the chin ; ears short, distinctly 

 rounded, and concealed beneath the fur ; head small and de- 

 pressed ; eyes small, and placed far forward ; neck very long ; 

 whole body cylindrical ; legs very short ; toes connected by a 

 hairy membrane ; nails white, shorter than the hair, but not con- 

 cealed ; tail thick at the base, round, and gradually tapering to its 

 extremity ; fur short, but dense and thick, intermediate between 

 brown and gray ; the lower jaw often tipped with white, and 

 sometimes there are other white spots about the throat and breast ; 

 whiskers brown, shorter than the head ; two glands situated at the 

 base of the tail, which secretes a fetid liquid that exhales the 

 odor of the skunk and cat combined. 



Observations. 



Length of the head and body, .... 



" " tail, ...... 



" " nose to the shoulder, 



" " incisors to the meatus, .... 



Skull. 

 Length from the incisors to the crucial ridge, 



" " ■ to the foramen magnum over the palate, 



" " " to the meatus, 



Width at the zygomatic arch, ..... 



in. 



t'thg. 



14 



6 



7 







5 



8 



2 







2 



3 



2 







1 



7 



1 



3 



