﻿June. 1896.] SYNOPSIS OF THE WEASELS OF NOETH AMERICA. 



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PUTORIUS XANTTIOGENYS (Gray). California Weasel. 



1843. Musiela xanihogenijs Gray : AuuaLs and Magazine Nat. Hist., XI, pp. 118, 1843. 

 1857. Putorius :rantho(jcnrjs Baird: Mammals X. Am., pp. 176-177. 1857. 

 1877. Putorius (Gale) hrasiJiensis f remit as Cones: Enr-Bearini;' Animals, pp. 142-146, 

 1877 (in part). 



Ty2)e localiti/. — Soutlimi California, probably Yicinitv of San Diego. 



GeograiJiic distribution. — Sonoran and Transition faunas of Califor- 

 nia, on both sides of the Sierra Nevada. 



General eJiaracters. — Size mediiini: tail long; face conspicuously 

 marked with whitish, but rest of head not black; under parts 

 ochraceous. 



Color. — Upper parts from back of head to terminal part of tail in 

 simmer pelage raw-umber brown, tinged with golden: in winter pelage^ 

 drab brown, without yellowish suffusion; head always darker, becom- 

 ing dusky over nosej a large rectangular sijot between eyes, and a 

 broad oblique band between eye and eir, whitish; end of tail black; 

 a brown spot behind corners of mouth ; chin white ; rest of under parts, 

 including fore feet all round and inner side and toes of hind feet, vary- 

 ing from bufty ochraceons to ochraceous orange. In some specimens 

 the ochraceous covers the greater i)art of the hind feet as well as the 

 toes. 



Cranial charaeters. — Skull of the longicauda type and practically 

 indistinguishable in size and characters from T\ arizonensis; skull as a 

 whole short and broad; zygomata bowed outward; postorbital j)rocesses 

 strongly develoijed; sagittal ridge distinct; audital bulhe moderate, 

 usuall}^ truncate anteriorly; skull of female similar to that of male, 

 but smaller. 



Remarks. — Putorius xanthogcnys inhabits the San Joaquin and Owens 

 valleys and the ^ hole of southern California except the higher moun- 

 tains. In ascending the mountains it gradually loses the facial mark- 

 ings and seems to grade into P. arizonensis^ the weasel of the mountain 

 summits. 



Measurements. — Average of 7 males from southern California: Total 

 length, 402; tail vertebriT?, 15(3; hind foot, 43.5. Average of 3 females: 

 Total length, 3GS; tail vertebr,^, 135; hind foot, 40.5. 



PUTORIUS XAXTHOGENYS OREGONEXSIS subsp. nov. Oregon Weasel. 



Type from Grants Pass, Eogue River Valley, Oregon. Xo. f 'Ih'i^ 9 ad., U. S. Xat. Mus., 

 Dept. Agric. Coll. Collected December 19, 1891, by Clark P. Streator. Original 

 number 1404. 



Geographic distribution. — Eogue Eiver Yalley, Oregon; limits of 

 range unknown. 



General characters. — Similar to P. xanthogcnys but decidedly larger, 

 darker m color, and with face markings much restricted. 



Color. — Upx)er parts m winter pelage pale chocolate brown, slightly 

 darker on head; a small and ill-detined patch between eyes, and a nar- 



