﻿12 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[No. 11. 



Color. — lTi)per parts dull cliocolate brown, this color reaching down 

 on both fore and hind feet to base of toes 5 imderparts whitish, more 

 or less suffused with yellowish^ the iiale color extending- out in a very 

 uarroAV and sometimes interrupted stri}) along inner side of hind feet 

 to toesj tail coucolor all around except at tip, which is black for about 

 one-third the total length of tail. In irinter pelage: Avliite all over 

 except terminal third of tail, which is blacky rumj) and belly more or 

 less tinged with yellowish. 



Cranial eliaracters. — Skull long, narrow, and subcylindric like that of 

 cicognaniy from whicli it differs chiefly in larger size, larger audital 

 bulhe, and heavier dentition. 



Rcmarlis.—F. riehardsoni, as pointed out by Mr. Bangs, is simj)ly a more 

 northern form of eicognani^ with which it intergrades completely. It 

 inhabits the Hudsonian timber zone while eleognani inhabits the Cana- 

 dian. On the north, where the timber ends and the tundra begins, the 

 range of riehardsoni meets that of areticus. The two species differ 

 widely in both cranial and external characters. The light subcylindric 

 skulls of 7^ichardsoni, with the narrow frontals and appressed zygomata, 

 require no comparison with the broad massive skulls of areticus with 

 their broadly flattened frontals and widely spreading zygomata. The 

 external differences are almost as marked. In ricliardsoni the under- 

 X)arts are nearly white or, at most, only tinged with pale yellowish j the 

 color of the upper parts covers both fore and hind feet, reaching the 

 base of the toes; the tail is relatively long, concolor except at the tip, 

 which is black for about one-third its length. In areticus the under 

 parts are deep yellow; the color of the upper parts stops short of the 

 fore feet and reaches onl;f halfway down the hind feet; the tail is short, 

 yellow below on its basal half, and has a long, black pencil covering at 

 least half its entire length.^ 



Measurements. — (From dry skin of male from Fort Simpson): Total 

 length, 390; tail vertebra?, 95; hind foot, 43 (probably 45). 



PUTORIUS RICHARDSONI ALASCENSIS subsp. nov. Jnnean Weasel. 

 (PI. II, figs. 2, 2a.) 



Type from Juneau, Alaska. No. 74423, $ ad., U. S. National Museum, Dept. Agric. 

 coll. Collected August 22, 1895, by Clark P. Streator. Original number 4806. 



General eliaracters. — Similar in size and general appearance to P. 

 riehardsoni^ but white tips of fore and hind feet more extensive and 

 interorbital region very much broader. 



Color. — Upper parts dull chocolate brown, this color reaching down 

 on fore legs to wrists and on hind legs to middle of upper side of feet; 



lit is not strange that Mr. Bangs failed to discriminate between areticus and 

 'ricliardsoni. Tlie available material is scanty and mostly of poor quality, and most 

 of the skins had the skulls inside. Through the kindness of IVIr. F. W. True, cura- 

 tor of mamnials in the United States National Museum, the skulls have been remoA^ed 

 and placed at my disposal. 



