﻿Jtoe,1896.] synopsis of the weasels op north AMERICA., 



31 



Fig. 15— p. frenatus ? . 



Fig. 16.— P. tropicalis ?. 



tlie specialization that characterizes the male, while the females of 

 wasMngtoni and frenatus have advanced further and are more like 

 the male. In the case of the female skulls of frenatus and tropicalis 

 here figured, it is interesting to know that they were taken within 

 a few miles of one another — frenatus on Gofre de Perote. at an 

 altitude of about 12,500 feet; 

 tropicalis at Jico on the i)lain 

 below, at an altitude of 5,000 or 

 6,000 feet.i 



The Department collection 

 contains four specimens of this 

 weasel, all collected by Mr. 'Nel- 

 son in Yera Cruz. Three of 

 t'hem, two adult males and one 

 old female, are from Jico 5 the 

 fourth, an immature female, is 

 from Oatemaco, and presents the 

 extreme of differentiation in in- 

 tensity of color. The hind feet 

 are dark throughout and the color of the upper parts is i^eculiarly dark 

 and rich, as in P. affinis. 



Measurements. — Average of two adult males from Jico, Vera Cruz 

 (type locality): Total length, 442; tail vertebri^^, 175; hind foot, 50. 

 An old female from same place: Total length, 333; tail vertebrae, 121; 

 hind foot, 37. 



PUTORIUS AFFINIS (Gray). 

 Mustela affinis Gray: Aimals & Mag. Nat. Hist., 4tli ser., XIV, p. 375, Nov., 1874. 

 Ty;pe locality. — "New Granada" [= Colombia]. 



General characters. — Size large; tail long; color very dark, almost 

 black anteriorly; facial markings obsolete or nearly so. 



Color. — Upper parts nearly pure black on head and neck, fading 

 imperceptibly to rich blackish brown on back, rump, and tail; black 

 tip of tail long, but not strongly contrasted with dark color of rest of 

 tail; under parts narrowly ocliraceous orange, narrowest behind angle 

 of mouth, where it is encroached on by the blackish of the cheeks. Face 

 usually unmarked, but a whitish streak sometimes present in front 

 ot ear. 



Cranial characters. — The only skull of this weasel I have seen is from 

 a skin (Ko. 13770, U. S. Nat. Mus.) collected by Dr. Van Patten, at San 

 Jose, Costa Rica. It is immature, but differs strikingly from frenatus 

 in the greater breadth of the frontal region and the flatness of the 

 audital bullae. The constriction is little marked, which may be due to 



^The difference in size of the two species is well shown by the flesh measurements 

 of these two specimens. Female frenatus, Cofre de Perote: Total length, 418; tail 

 vertebrae, 160 ; hind foot, 45. Female tropicalis, Jico : Total length, 333 ; tail verte- 

 brae, 121; hind foot, 37, 



