Fur-bearing animals : a monograph of North American Mustelidae, in which an account of the wolverene, the martens or sables, the ermine, the mink and various other kinds of weasels, several species of skunks, the badger, the land and sea otters, and numerous exotic allies of these animals, is contributed to the history of North American mammals / by Elliott Coues.

  • Coues, Elliott, 1842-1899.
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fur-bearing animals : a monograph of North American Mustelidae, in which an account of the wolverene, the martens or sables, the ermine, the mink and various other kinds of weasels, several species of skunks, the badger, the land and sea otters, and numerous exotic allies of these animals, is contributed to the history of North American mammals / by Elliott Coues. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    We may finally sum and amplify the differential characters of the foregoing table, with others, in the following expressions, diagnostic of the five subfamilies here adopted :— DIAGNOSES OF THE FIVE NORTH AMERICAN SUBFAMILIES. 1. MUSTELINH3.—Teeth of ordinary Carnivorous pattern, 38 or 34 in number, according to varying number of premolars, whether ^ {Gulo, Mustela) or ^^{Putoriusy, the number unequal in the two jaws, ^ or incisors constantly canines as in all Mustelidce; and molars as in all Mustelidw excepting Mel- livorince. Molar of upper jaw much wider than long; its long axis transverse to the axis of the dental series, longitudinally constricted across the middle. Posterior upper premolar (the large ‘‘sectoriaP^ tooth) narrow and linear, with a small dis- tinct spur projecting inward from its antero-interior corner. Eostralpartof skull moderately produced, sloping in profile, very obliquely truncated, transversely convex, the hind ends of the na- sals more nearly opposite the roots of the zygoma than their fore ends are.* Cerebral portion of skull comparatively compressed backward, little broader behind than before, with moderately convex lateral outlines. Postorbital processes moderately developed. Anteorbital foramen small, oval or subcircular, presenting upward forward {Gulo) oy more or less downward forward [Mustela, Putorius). Posterior nares thrown into one common conduit by absence of bony septum. Bony palate pro- duced far back of molars,—half-way (more or less) to ends of pterygoids; interpterygoid space longer than wide. Audi- tory bullse much infiated, with moderate constriction of the tubular meatus.t Little or no expansion of periotic region behind the bullae, with which the paroccipitals appear in contact. Mastoids little developed, presenting outward or backward. Glenoid fossae shallow, the anterior ledge slight; condyles never locked. Coronoid process of mandible erect, conical in profile, the posterior outline with forward upward obliquity [Mustela, Putorius,—more nearly vertical in Gulo), the apex in advance of the condyle. Feet with ordinary development and ratio of * It is curious to observe that an aquatic species of Putorius (P. vison, the Mink) tends to approach the aquatic Otters {Lutrince and Enhydrina}) in the relative shortness of rostrum, its less oblique truncation, flatness on top, &c. tHere again the aquatic Putorius vison approaches the other aquatic species of different subfamilies in the comparative flatness of the bullrn.