MAMMALS-MARTINAE-PUTORIUS CICOGNANII. 
161 
the canines, instead of two, as is really the case, both in this and in P. vulgaris. I am not 
able to state its range with precision, though it appears to be a very northern species. 
List of specimens. 
Catalogue 
No. of skull. 
Corresponding 
number. 
Locality. 
Whence obtained. 
Nature of specimen. 
435 
2319 
1301 
Pembina, Minn ._...._...... 
Charles Cavileer___ 
Mounted from alcohol 
Skin in alcohol _, 
Fort Steilacoom, W. T_ 
Dr. George Suckley, U. S. A.. 
PUTORIUS CICOGNANII. 
Small Brown Weasel. 
Mu stela cicognanii, Bonaf. in Fauna Italica, Mamm. 1838. Under head of Mustela boccamela, 
Ib. Charles worth’s Mag. N. H. II, Jan. 1838, 37. 
Wiegmann’s Archiv, 1839, ii, 423. 
Mustela vulgaris, Thompson, Hist. Vermont, 1842, 30. 
Mustela fusca, Aud. & Bach., J. A. N. Sc. Philada. VIII, ii, 1842, 288. 
Dekay, N. Y. Zool. I, 1842, 35. 
Wagner in Wiegmann’s Archiv, 1843, ii, 32. 
Putorius fuscus, Aud. & Bach., N. A. Quad. Ill, 1853, 234 ; pi. cxlviii. 
Sp. Ch. —Length to tail, 8 inches or less. Tail vertebrae, one-third this length. Black of tail, two-fifths its length. Out¬ 
stretched hind feet reach the end of the vertebrae. In summer, brown above, whitish beneath ; edge of upper lip white. In 
winter white ; tail with black tip. 
The dimensions of this species are less than those of our two ermines, although the precise 
limits of adult size have not yet been ascertained. The specimen before me and belonging to 
the Boston Society of Natural History, (kindly loaned for examination,) measures but inches; 
the tail vertebrae, 2£- inches ; yet it is completely adult. The ears are broad, and the false lobe 
comes nearly up to the highest part of the ear. The auditory aperture is very broad. The feet 
are moderately large, densely coated with hair, so as to obscure very greatly the tubercles. The 
tail vertebrae are about one-third the head and body, or even less; with the hairs, not three- 
sevenths. 
The general color of the back, side, legs, and tail, is rather dark brown, deepest along the 
vertebral line ; this color is darker and with less of a chestnut brown tint than in P. novebora- 
censis. The under parts, except as described, and the fingers and toes, are white. The white of 
the belly extends to the genitalia, and on the upper lip forms a narrow margin to the nose, on 
a line with the lower part of the nasal aperture. There is a large indistinct blotch, colored 
like the back, on the breast between the arms, and another behind that, though this is probably 
not constant. The tail begins to darken at about one-third its length from the base above, and 
two-thirds below ; on the terminal third it is entirely black, the hairs forming a dense pencil of 
this color, much as in the European ermine, (P. erminea ,) this color not extending much behind 
the end of the vertebrae, as in P. noveboracensis. There are a few scattered white hairs in this 
brush. 
A large collection of weasels made by Mr. Jenks, at Middleboro’, Massachusetts, and received 
since the preceding description was written, has enabled me to determine with more accuracy 
21 L 
