A WEASEL NEW TO WISCONSIN'S FAUNA. 
By Hknry L. Ward- 
Last November the Milwaukee Public Museum received as a 
gift from E. J. Wehmhoff, Esq., of Burlington, Wis., a small 
weasel in the flesh which Mr. Wehmhoff wrote had been "caught 
in the country in the act of killing a mole." The specimen had 
excited some interest and discussion as to its identity, which would 
indicate that it is not commonly observed. In conversation with 
the mother of the donor I am informed that her husband, Mr. 
W ehmhoff", has for forty years trapped all about Burlington and is 
consequently well informed as to the mammals of the region, but 
that he had never before seen or heard of this kind of weasel. 
From these facts it is not unlikely that the species is peculiar in 
its habits or is very scarce. Its small size probably militates 
against its being frequently taken in the ordinary traps intended 
for larger mammals ; so that, after all, our knowledge as to its 
rarity is dependent on more or less fortuitous observation. 
As the Museum possessed no specimens of short-tailed weasels 
for comparison it was impossible to make a satisfactory determin- 
ation of the species, though from a consultation of the literature 
it seemed to conform very exactly with P. rixosiis as described b}^ 
Bangs in Proc. Biol. Soc'y., Wash., Vol. X. Its position in the 
extreme southern part of the state so poorly agreed with what is 
known of the geographical distribution of this northern species 
that it seemed hardly probable that in these times of close splitting 
of species by faunal areas it would be allowed as cospecific with 
rixosiis. 
In order to obtain a satisfactory determination I forwarded 
the specimen to Dr. C. H. Merriam, who writes under date of 
Jan. 9th: "I have just now examined the specimen in connection 
with our specimens of rixosiis and aUegheniensis. I regard 
alleghenicnsis as a subspecies of rixosiis. Your specimen being in 
winter pelage does not show the dark belly of aUegheniensis, but 
probably would have this character in summer pelage. It is a 
female and therefore does not show the skull characters to advan- 
tage. I regard it however as aUegheniensis." 
6i 
