584 



REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



me of following a mink track nearly all day in the snow, traversing 

 about 20 miles, and finally ending at a den not far from where he 

 started. 



With so many harmful qualities added to the value of its fur, 

 it is no wonder that minks are killed wherever possible. The fur 

 makes the animal one of considerable economic value, and its ex- 

 termination is not desirable. Partially successful attempts have 

 been made to raise the animals in colonies or "minkeries," and it 

 is to be hoped that other ventures of the same sort will be made 

 with this and other fur-bearing animals. Minks are relatives of the 

 ferrets, and can be tamed and used to exterminate rats and other 

 noxious rodents. 



The young vary greatly in number. From four to six is prob- 

 ably the more usual size of the litters, although Marfarlane states 

 that as many as 12 have been observed in northern Canada. The 

 den is sometimes in a hollow log, but most often in a burrow in the 

 bank of a stream. 



Considering the fecundity of the species, the security of the 

 young in their underground homes and the ability of the adults to 

 secure food and to escape being food, it is difficult to see why the 

 species did not become even more abundant than it was before the 

 country was settled by whites. However, the competition for food 

 was greater then than now, for although some of the animals 

 which mink eat have been reduced in numbers, the larger carnivores 

 which depended in part on the same food have almost wholly dis- 

 appeared. 



Genus Putorius Cuvier. 



Putorius Cuvier Regne Animal, I, p. 147, 1817. 

 Merriam, N. A. Fauna, No. 11, 1896. 



Dental formula— 1, Ie^; C, JeJ; Pm, M, = 34. 



Generic characters. — Species smaller than those of Lutreola, 

 which they resemble in many ways; color generally paler on the 

 under side than on the upper, often changing to white in winter; 

 body slender and tail also more slender than in Lutreola. 



This genus contains both the ferrets and weasels and species 

 belonging to it are found in all of the continents except Australia. 

 The ferrets constitute a distinct subdivision and are represented 

 in North America by a single native species on the western plains. 

 On the other hand, more than 80 si)ecies and subspecies of weasels 

 occur north of Panama. Only one form is known to occur iti In- 

 diana. 



