36 
12, 59.—Ames, Bull. Minn. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1874, 69.—Coues and 
Yarrow, Zool. Expl. W. 100 Merid., v. 1875, 60.—Allen, Bull. U. 
S. Geol. Sur., vol. ii, No. 4, 1876, 326 (skull.)—Jordan, Man. 
Vert., 2d. ed, 1878, 18. 
1806. Mustela minz, Turt., S. N., 1, 1806, 58—Ord, Guthr. Geog., 2d Am. 
ed , 1i, 1815, 291, 298. 
1825. Mustela lutreocephala, Harl., hn. Amer., 1825, 68. 
1848. Vison lutreola, Gray, List Mamm. Br. Mus., 1843, 64 (partly).—Gerr., 
Cat. Bones Br. Mus., 1862, 92 (partly.) 
1844. Mustela (Lutreola) lutreola var. americana, Schinz, Syn. Mamm., i, 
1844, 347. 
1869. Putorius intreolus [Cuy.], Allen, Bull. M. C. Z., i, 1869, 175 (critical) ; 
ii, 1870, 169 (Florida).—Allen, Pr. Bost. Soc. N. H., xiii, 169, 
183.—Jordan, Man. Vert., 1876. | 
1874. Putorius lustreolus var. vison, Allen, Bull. Ess. Inst., vi, 1874, 54, 
59, 62. 
1877. Putorius (Lutreola) vison, Coues, Mon. N. A. Mus., 1877, 160. 
Habitat.—North America at large. North to the Arctic coast, but not 
abundant north of Fort Resolution. 
Specific Characters.—Larger and stouter than the Stoats; ears shorter ; 
tail uniformly bushy, nearly as in Mustela; feet semipalmate; color 
dark chestnut-brown ; tail, and usually a dorsal area, blackish; chin 
white; the edges of the upper lip rarely also white; the throat, breast, 
and belly often with irregular white patches; length fifteen to eighteen 
inches ; tail-vertebree six to eight inches. 
External Appearance.—The Mink differs from the Stoats and true Wea- 
sels in its larger size, stouter form, and lower ears. It is adapted to its 
eminently aquatic life, and, indeed, related to the Otters by its close-set 
and felted under-fur, which readily resists the water, by its half-webbed 
toes, short ears, and bristly, glossy pelage. Indeed, the specific name 
Lutreola, or “ Little Otter,” given to the European species by Linnzus, is 
especially appropriate. The dentition is essentially that of the genus 
Putorius. It shares with the Martens the uniformly enlarged, bushy, and 
somewhat tapering tail, in place of the slender terete tail, with enlarged, 
bushy tip of the Stoats. It is a true Weasel, however, with thirty-four 
teeth—not a Marten, which has thirty-eight. The pelage consists of a 
dense, soft, matted under-fur, intermingled with long, rigid, shining 
hairs. The gloss is greatest above; on the tail the bristly hairs are in 
excess. The whiskers are in four or five series, the longest reaching op- 
posite the occiput. Bristles grow also on the middle of the chin, on the 
cheeks, over and behind the eyes, and usually on the wrists and ankles. 
