﻿28 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



\^o. 11. 



around tlie world. Tlie animal was said to have come from Brazil, but 

 no definite locality was given. In tlie numerous publications tliat liave. 

 since appeared relating' to the mammals of Brazil and adjacent terri- 

 tory, no weasels are mentioned as inhabiting that country, and the 

 species described from the mountains to the westward difl'er so widely 

 from Sevastianoff's hYislliensis that it is almost certain his animal did 

 not coDie from Brazil. The original descrix^tion (including measure- 

 ments) agrees in every resj^ect with P. frenatus of Lichteiistieii from 

 the Valley of Mexico, indicating that the two animals are identical. 

 On this assumption the well-known and appropriate name frenaius 

 would have to fall before the earlier and inappropriate ^hrasiUensis.^ 

 Fortunately, however, Sevastianoff placed his animal in the genus 

 Mustelaj and the name Mustela hrasilieusis is preoccupied by Gmelin 

 for a South American otter. (Syst. IS'at., ed. 13, p. 93, 1788.) Hence, 

 unless some earlier name is found, frenatus will stand for the Mexican 

 bridled weasel. 



Measurements. — An adult male from Tialpam, Yalley of Mexico (type 

 locality): Total length, 505; tail vertebnie, 203; hind foot, 53. Average 

 of G males from Brownsville, Tex. : Total length, 488; tail vertebra^, 192; 

 hind foot, 51. Average of 3 females from Brownsville: Total length, 

 438; tail vertebrae, 187 ; hind foot, 41.5. 



PUTORIUS FRENATUS GOLDMANI subsp. nov. 



Ty2)e from Pinabete, Chiapas, Mexico, No. 77519, ^ ad., U. S. Nat. Mus,, Dept, Agric. 

 coll. Collected Feb. 10, 1896, by E. A. Goldman. Altitude about 8,200 feet (=2,500 

 meters). Original number 9279. 



GeograpMc distribution. — Mountains of southeastern Chiapas; limits 

 of range unknown. 



General charaeters. — Similar to P. frenatus in size and general char- 

 acters, but tail and hind feet longer ; light markings more restricted; 

 black of head reaching much farther back on neck; v.olov of upper parts 

 darker and more extensive, encroaching on sides of belly and covering 

 fore and hind feet; black tip of tail longer. 



Color. — Upper parts, including whole of fore and hind feet, dull, dark 

 chestnut brown, washed with black on the neck from shoulders forward, 

 and becoming pure black on the head; face marked by a whitish i)atch 

 between the eyes, and a narrow, oblique band between eye and ear; a 

 blackish spot behind angle of mouth; color of under parts salmon 

 ochraceous, reaching wrists interiorly, but not reaching heels; terminal 

 third of tail black. 



Cranial characters. — Skull rather large; zygomata moderately spread- 

 ing; squamosal inflation moderate, but large for a member of the Jre- 

 natus series; audital bulla^ small, steep on inner side, and only slightly 

 elevated anteriorly above squamosal inflation. The skull as a whole 

 resembles that of frenatus, but differs conspicuously in the greater 

 length and inflation of the postglenoid part of the squamosal, greater 

 breadth of the basioccipital, and in the size and form of the audita! 



