Part 31 (1/2)

NO. 183. MUSTELA ERMINEA.

_The Ermine or Stoat_.

HABITAT.--Europe, America and Asia (the Himalayas, Nepal, Thibet, Afghanistan).

DESCRIPTION.--Brown above; upper lip, chin, and lower surface of body, inside of limbs and feet yellowish-white; tail brown, with a black tip. In winter the whole body changes to a yellowish-white, with the exception of the black tip of the tail.

SIZE.--Head and body, about 10 inches; tail, 4-1/2 inches.

This is about the best known in a general way from its fur being used as part of the insignia of royalty. The fur however only becomes valuable after it has completed its winter change. How this is done was for a long time a subject of speculation and inquiry. It is, however, now proved that it is according to season that the mode of alteration is effected. In spring the new hairs are brown, replacing the white ones of winter; in autumn the existing brown hairs turn white. Mr. Bell, who gave the subject his careful consideration, says that in Ross's first Polar expedition, a Hudson's Bay lemming (_Myodes_) was exposed in its summer coat to a temperature of 30 degrees below zero. Next morning the fur on the cheeks and a patch on each shoulder had become perfectly white; at the end of the week the winter change was complete, with the exception of a dark band across the shoulder and a dorsal stripe.

Hodgson remarks that the Ermine is common in Thibet, where the skins enter largely into the peltry trade with China.

In one year 187,000 skins were imported into England.

NO. 184. MUSTELA (VISON: _Gray_) CANIGULA.

_The h.o.a.ry Red-necked Weasel_.

HABITAT.--Nepal hills, Thibet.

DESCRIPTION.--Pale reddish-brown, scarcely paler beneath; face, chin, throat, sides of neck and chest white; tail half as long as body and head, concolorous with the back; feet whitish. Sometimes chest brown and white mottled, according to Gray. Hodgson, who discovered the animal, writes: ”Colour throughout cinnamon red without black tip to the tail, but the chaffron and entire head and neck below h.o.a.ry.”

SIZE.--15-1/2 inches; tail without hair 7-1/2 inches, with hair 9-1/2 inches.

NO. 185. MUSTELA STOLICZKANA.

HABITAT.--Yarkand.

DESCRIPTION.--Colour pale sandy brown above; hairs light at base, white below; tail concolorous with back; small white spot close to anterior angle of each eye; a sandy spot behind the gape; feet whitish.

SIZE.--Head and body, 12.2; tail, 3 inches, including hair.

NO. 186. MUSTELA (VISON) SIBIRICA.

HABITAT.--Himalayas (Thibet?); Afghanistan (Candahar).

DESCRIPTION.--Pale brown; head blackish, varied; spot on each side of nose, on upper and lower lips and front of chin, white; tail end pale brown like back, varies; throat more or less white.

This Weasel, described first by Pallas ('Specil Zool.' xiv. t. 4, f. 1.) was obtained in Candahar by Captain T. Hutton, who describes it in the 'Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal,' vol. xiv. pp. 346 to 352.

NO. 187. MUSTELA ALPINA.

_The Alpine Weasel_.

HABITAT.--Said to be found in Thibet, otherwise an inhabitant of the Altai mountains.

DESCRIPTION.--Pale yellow brown; upper lip, chin, and underneath yellowish-white; head varied with black-tipped hairs; tail cylindrical, unicolour, not so long as head and body.--_Gray_.