192 The Mammals of Colorado 
Subfamily MUSTELINiE 
Terrestrial and often arboreal carnivora with an elongated 
body and short limbs, the toes of which are short and partially 
webbed; claws short, compressed, acute, curved, and often 
semi-retractile; kidneys simple. 
Genus PUTORIUS (Lat. putor, a stench, in allusion to the offensive 
fluid secreted by the animals). 
Putorius Frisch, Nat. Syst. vierfiiss. Thiere, in Tab. II., Tab. Gen. 
(1775). Type Alustela putorius Linnaeus. 
Revision, Bangs, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., x., pp. 1-24 (1896). 
Merriam, N. A. Fauna, No. 11 (1896). 
Medium to small slender-bodied animals; legs short; tail long, 
not bushy; ears large; soles haired; rostrum short; bullae flat; 
lambdoidal crests medium; sagittal crest small; dentition, i. f; 
c. \ \ pm. f ; m. 1^ X 2 = 34. Females smaller than males. 
This genus is found in the northern hemispheres of both 
continents, also extending into South America. They are 
among the most bloodthirsty mammals known — perhaps, 
their size considered, the most so. One species, P, rixosus, 
of North America, is the smallest carnivorous mammal known. 
While terrestrial mammals, most of the species can and do 
climb trees in search of or pursuit of prey. Their food con- 
sists of mammals of various sizes, from rabbits and prairie- 
dogs down, birds and their eggs, and very likely occasionally 
reptiles and frogs. They at times — that is, the larger species 
— attack poultry, and then often kill several fowl at one raid, 
apparently for the mere love of killing. Most of those species 
which live in cold climates have a winter and a summer coat 
of different colors, the former being white, usually with a 
black tip to the tail, and the latter of some shade of brown 
above. 
Elliot's Check-list gives as found in North and Middle 
America 20 species and 14 subspecies of this genus, of 
which four have been met with in Colorado. 
The members of this genus, in common with most of the 
