2 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
must be considered synonymous with P. vis on, while the Mustela 
vison of the same work is, as far as can be judged by the descrip¬ 
tion, a marten. 
Harlan in Fauna americana, 1825, is the first to name the southern 
mink, calling it Mustela lutreocephala. He took his description 
from a specimen “ obtained and prepared by Mr. C. W. Peale many 
years ago in Maryland.” The specimen was evidently much faded 1 
at the time Harlan saw it, as he gives the color as “brownish white, 
lightest beneath: tail ferruginous brown.” His measurements are 
“ total length ” (presumably head and body) “ one foot eight 
inches; length of the tail, about nine inches.” These measurements 
were unquestionably taken from the mounted animal, and are there¬ 
fore inaccurate, but, roughly speaking, they are near enough to 
show what the animal was. 
in 1895 in the Proceedings of the Boston society of natural history 
I described a new mink from the coast of Louisiana, giving it full 
specific rank. The great difference in color, added to the cranial 
and dental characters, led me at that time to suppose that the animal 
was really a distinct species. Since then I have received a large 
series of skulls and some skins from Raleigh, N. C., and these, while 
referable to P. lutreocephalus, suggest an approach to P. vulgiva- 
• jus, and as the range of the mink is continuous over the inter¬ 
vening country, it seems wise to reduce P. vulgivagus to subspecific 
rank. I regret that I have no mink from Maryland, the type locality 
of P. lutreocephalus, but this is of little importance, as the animal 
from North Carolina varies but slightly from those found on the 
coast of Maine. 
The three eastern mink, P. vison, P. lutreocephalus, and P. vulgi¬ 
vagus, are all strongly characterized subspecies, and each occupies a 
large area of country. The range of P. vulgivagus undoubtedly 
extends from Texas to Florida and perhaps across to the Atlantic 
coast south of North Carolina. In addition to these I propose to 
name a strongly marked race from the Pacific coast region, based 
on two specimens from Sumas, B. C., ^collected by Mr. Allan C. 
Brooks. This race has an extensive range from northern California 
to Alaska. I have examined lately quite a series of fur skins of 
mink from Alaska, some of which were of enormous size and of 
a very beautiful dark brown color. 
1 1 have seen old museum specimens of mink that had been mounted and left in the sun 
faded to just about the color Harlan describes. 
