﻿June, 1896.] SYNOPSIS OF THE WEASELS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



29 



biilliX3. The latter are very narrow, low anteriorly where they meet tlie 

 inflated squamosal without an abrui>t stei^, and. high along the inner 

 side. 



Remarks. — Mr. E. W. Xelsou writes me that this tine weasel is found 

 sparingly in the forest about Pinabete, Chiapas, at an altitude of 7,000 

 to 8,000 feet (2,100 to 2,500 meters). Tlie type specimen was shot in 

 the afternoon while hunting on a heavily wooded hill slope. It was 

 heard making long, slow lea^^s over the dry, crisp leaves. Coming to a 

 log, it stood up and rested its fore feet on the log, in which position it 

 was shot by Mr. Goldman. 



A specimen from Cerro San Felipe, Oaxaca. is intermediate, both 

 iu coloration and cranial characters, between typical frenatuH and 

 goldviani ; hence there is little room for doubt that complete inter- 

 gradation exists between the two. 



Measurements. — Type specimen, male adult: Total length, 504; tail 

 vertebrae, 201 • hind foot, 58. 



PUTORIUS FRENATUS LEUCOPARIA subsp.nov. 



Ty2}e from Patzcnaro, Miclioacan, Mexico. No. 47 =1 ^ ad., U. 8. Nat. Mus., Dept. 

 Agric. coli. Collected July 27, 1892, Ijy E. W. Nelson. Original number 2960. 



General characters. — Similar to Puforius frenatus, but slightly larger; 

 black of head extending posteriorly over neck; white face markings 

 much more extensive; the spot between the eyes very much larger and 

 broadly confluent on both sides with whitish area between eye and ear, 

 which area also is much more extensive in all directions than iu 

 frenatus. 



Color. — Upper parts from shoulders to black tip of tail, dark brown; 

 neck, crown of head, nose, ears, and sides of face to a little behind the 

 eye, black ; black of head between eyes and ears divided by a broad 

 band of bufty white which is broadly confluent Avitli bufly yellow of 

 throat and chin; a narrow border of whitish on upper Hp; rest of 

 under parts ochraceous yellow (including Avliole of forefeet, inner sides 

 of hind legs and feet, and terminal half or nearly half of ui^per surfaces 

 of hind feet, where the color becomes paler, being bufty ochraceous, as 

 on the throat). 



Cranial characters. — Skull similar to that of frenatus^ but larger; 

 audital bullae much narrower; i^ostorbital processes less strongly 

 developed. 



Remarlis. — This handsome weasel presents the maximum of black 

 and white markings known in the frenatus group, the black of the head 

 reaching back over the neck and the white face markings covering a 

 large area. In the type specimen a white stripe 50 mm. in length 

 extends down the middle of the nape from a point between the ears 

 more than halfway to the shoulders. This, however, is T)robably ab- 

 normal, though a trace of it exists in a female from the same locality. 

 This form is the poorest subspecies described in the present paper. 



