The American Sable and its Varieties. 6 1 



cerned, to establish the following comparisons between its 

 outward appearance and bony parts, with the denizen of 

 northern Europe and Asia.* 



The average length of the American sable, as indicated from 

 the very many specimens examined by me, is nineteen inches, 

 exclusive of the tail, which averages six inches. The tail verte- 

 brae do nearly extend to the end of the hind feet, which is also 

 the case with the old world animal ; nevertheless I observe 

 Professor Baird stating *f that in the specimens procured in 

 the United States the feet reach only to the middle of the 

 tail. The balls of the toes, as usual with its compeers, are 

 densely covered with woolly hair in winter and are naked in 

 summer. The skulls of the two agree in all particulars. 

 In the orange and saffron varieties of Canada the upper parts 

 are more or less orange, with dark tips to the hairs and 

 shadings of the same extending down the back. The yellow 

 occupies about three inches of the tail, the remainder being 

 black, like the extremities. I observed that several skins 

 procured in the same district showed a few white hairs at the 

 tip, and in one in particular there was a conspicuous orange 

 and white tuft at the distal extremity, thus showing a pre- 

 disposition to a character common to many carnivorous 

 quadrupeds, both closely and remotely allied to' the genus, 

 or according to the doctrines advanced by Mr. Darwin. % 

 Are we to say it is a partial reversion to the colour of 

 a common progenitor ? 



It seems that the lighter the upper parts of the Canadian 

 sable, the more so are the lower; and the darker the pile, 



* I am indebted to my friend Lieutenant Sweeny, 22nd Regiment, an 

 experienced and skilled trapper, for many opportunities of examining 

 large collections of skins of the martens of northern New Brunswick, as 

 well as numerous specimens of their skeletons, which he kindly procured 

 for me ; also an interesting series of thirty-two sable skins from the hard 

 and soft wood forests of the central part of the province. 



t " United States Pacific Railway Report," vol. viii., 152. 



X See " Origin of Species," " Animals and Plants under Domestication," 

 and " Descent of Man" passim. 



