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.

    32/416 (page 10)
    digits -j digits incompletely or not webbed. External appear- ance and habits variable, according to the genera and species, none strictly fossorial; progression digitigrade and subplanti- grade j size from nearly the maximum to the minimum in the family ; body never much depressed, nor tail conical or distich- ous. Perinseal glands moderately developed. Ko peculiar sub- caudal pouch. Kature highly predacious. 2. Mephitinae.—Teeth of ordinary Carnivorous pattern, 34 or 32 in number, according to varying number of premolars, whether ^ (Mej^MUs and Spilogale) or indifferently ^ or [Conepatus)-y the number unequal in the two jaws, ^ or ||. In- cisors, canines, and molars as in the last subfamily. Molar of upper jaw quadrate, about as wide as long (varying in detail with the genera). Posterior upper premolar with a large inner shelf, giving a triangular shape to the tooth. Eostral part of skull moderately produced, and otherwise much as in the last (aperture of nares very oblique in Conepatus)'^ cerebral portion as in Mustelince, Postorbital processes slight or obsolete. An- teorbital foramen very small, circular, sometimes subdivided into two or more canals. Posterior nares completely separated by a bony septum reaching to the end of the bony palate. Bony palate ending opposite last molars [Mephitis^ Spilogale) or a little back of them, but not half-way to ends of pterygoids, (Conepatus). Auditory bullm little inflated, with much constric- tion of the tubular meatus. Mastoids well developed, outward. Periotic region flattened and expansive behind the bullae, the surface nearly horizontal, the paroccipitals remote from the bullae. Glenoid shallow, presenting much forward as well as downward, without anterior wall, never locking condyle. Ooro- noid process of jaw conical in profile, erect, wholly in advance of condyle (except in Conepatus^ which , in this respect, singularly resembles Eiiliydra). Feet with ordinary development and ratio of digitsj digits not webbed. Form stout; tail very bushy; pelage long; colors black and white. Habits strictly terrestrial, more or less fossorial; progression plantigrade; movements slow. Size moderate and small. No peculiar subcaudal pouch. Perinseal glands extraordinarily developed, affording a means of offence and defence. 3. Melinae.*—Teeth of ordinary Carnivorous pattern, 34 in ^ The characters here given are drawn entirely from the American genus Taxidea, and will require modification in order to their applicability to the subfamily at large.