232 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
coast of Louisiana, P. vulgivagus. The resemblance between these 
two forms is, however, not deep seated, as their skulls are wholly 
different, that of P. vulgivagus being heavy and short, with broad 
frontals and rostrum, heavy and broadly rounded zygoma standing 
well out from the skull at the forward end, and large, strong post¬ 
orbital processes. Moreover, I do not see how their geographical 
ranges can meet. 
There is a confusion in regard to the name “ mink ” in Florida 
that must always be borne in mind in dealing with the hunters and 
the trappers there, many of whom call the Florida weasel ( Putorius 
peninsulae) “ mink.” Wherever the salt-marsh mink (P. lutensis) 
occurs, it is, however, always called “ mink.” 
Putorius (Arctogai/e) peninsular Rhoads. 
Putorius peninsulae Rhoads, Proc. Acad. nat. sci., Phila., 1894, 
p. 152. 
Type locality. “Hudson’s,” Pasco County, Florida (fourteen 
miles north of Tarpon Springs). 
The Florida weasel is by no means rare throughout peninsular 
Florida. It is one of the most difficult animals to trap ; indeed no 
one has ever been able to trap it successfully, the few specimens 
that have found their way into collections having been either shot 
or taken, as it were, by accident. 
About Gainesville it is fairly common, and several have been 
found on the railroad tracks there, killed by the train. Young Mr. 
Bell also shot a fine one at the edge of the great prairie about a 
year ago, but did not save it. I wasted more time in a vain 
endeavor to trap it there, than I ever did over any other animal. 
No bait lured it, and it always avoided any trap I set, though I 
several times saw fresh tracks, that I supposed were the footprints 
of this species. 
It apparently lives on the cotton rat, Sigmodon, which it often 
kills in large numbers, just for sport, leaving the dead scattered 
over the ground in all directions. Probably the difficulty of trap¬ 
ping it is in part due to the great abundance of its natural food, so 
much so that it never is hungry. 
P. peninsulae is a large, powerful weasel, belonging to the longi- 
cauda group, is wholly different from any other species, and needs 
comparison with none. Whether its range extends beyond Florida 
