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PROCEEDINGS : 
BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
seeing me they ran down the tree, and, plunging into a large brook, 
disappeared. 
The fur of P. vison is very tine and soft and of a beautiful dark 
brown color, and is more valuable than that of any other mink. 
Pptorius vison lutreocephalus (Harlan). 
The large brown mink. 
Mustela lutreocephala Harlan, Fauna americana, p. 63, 1825. 
Type locality. Maryland. 
Geographical distribution. The Middle and Atlantic States, 
from North Carolina north to the coast of Maine, confined to the 
sea coast at the northern part of its range. 
Inhabits the Carolinian and transition zones. 
General characters. Large and heavily built, with about the 
proportions of an otter. Coat long and rather coarse. 
Color. Uniform dark chestnut-brown, the tail darker. Chin 
and usually some spots on chest or belly white. 
Size. $ old adult from Raleigh, N. C. Total length, 640 mm.; 
tail vertebrae, 214 mm.; hind foot, 75 mm. 
$ young adult from Flat Island off Jonesport, Maine. Total 
length, 629 mm.; tail vertebrae, 210 mm.; hind foot, 69 mm. 
9 old adult from Raleigh, N. C. Total length, 502 mm.; tail 
vertebrae, 183 mm.; hind foot, 55 mm. 
9 young adult from Liberty Hill, Conn. Total length, 510 mm.; 
tail vertebrae, 176 mm.; hind foot, 54 mm. 
The skull. Large and with a strong sagittal crest, otherwise like 
that of P. vison. 
Remarks. Putorius lutreocephalus is the large brown mink of 
the Carolinas and the sea coast of New England. How far west 
this form extends at the southern part of its range I am unable to 
say, but in the north it is replaced by P. vison at no very great 
distance inland, occurring only along the immediate seaboard. 
When seen in the flesh it is a large strong animal suggesting an 
otter in its shape and proportions, and very different in build from 
the slender weasel-like P. vison. Along the coasts of Connecticut, 
Massachusetts, and Maine, where I am most familiar with it, it is 
very abundant. It is often found on the little rocky or sandy 
islands many miles from shore. It subsists here almost wholly on 
eels, catching them with the greatest ease. 
