good state of preservation. The spring coat is appearing along the
back. This coat is visible at only two places unless the hair be
parted when the new brown pelage, which is coming in, can be seen
all along the midline of the back.
_Range._--Kodiak Island, Alaska. See figure 25 on page 95.
_Characters for ready recognition._--Differs from _M. e. arctica_
in hind foot less than 33 in females and in zygomatic breadth
amounting to less, instead of more, than distance between last
upper molar and jugular foramen irrespective of sex.
_Description._--_Size._--Male: One adult and 3 subadults yield
average and extreme measurements as follows: Total length, 341
(318-360); length of tail, 93 (86-102); length of hind foot, 47
(44-49).
Female: An adult measures: Total length, 258; length of tail, 70;
length of hind foot, 31.
_Color._--As described in _M. e. arctica_, except that least width
of color of underparts averaging 54 (40-83) per cent of greatest
width of color of upper parts. Black tip of tail in 3 males in
summer pelage averaging 80 (70-90) mm. which is 85 (69-96) per
cent of length of tail-vertebrae.
_Skull._--Male (based on 2 adults): See measurements and plates
2-4. As described in _Mustela erminea richardsonii_ except that:
Weight 3.1 grams; basilar length, 42.6 (42.1-43.2); length of
tooth-rows more than length of tympanic bulla; breadth of rostrum
measured across lacrimal processes averaging more than a third of
basilar length; interorbital breadth more than distance between
glenoid fossa and posterior border of external auditory meatus.
Female (based on one adult, no. 98042): See measurements and
plates 9-11. As described in _Mustela erminea richardsonii_ except
that: Weight, 1.2 grams; basilar length, 33.0; length of
tooth-rows more than length of tympanic bulla.
Comparison with _arctica_ has been made in the account of that
subspecies. Although _richardsonii_ and _kadiacensis_ are described as
having the zygomatic breadth less than the distance between the last
upper molar and jugular foramen, the zygomatic breadth is considerably
more in _kadiacensis_ than in _richardsonii_; consequently the two
dimensions are more nearly equal than in _richardsonii_. Except for
being slightly narrower, the skull of _kadiacensis_ is only a slightly
smaller edition of that of _arctica_.
_Remarks._--When naming the weasel from the mainland of Alaska as new,
under the name _Putorius arcticus_, Merriam (1896:16) wrote: "A small
form of _arcticus_ occurs on Kadiak Island. . . . It is probably worthy
of recognition as subspecies _kadiacensis_." The informality of this
description possibly was in part due to the describer's recognition of
the fact that the degree of difference between _arcticus_ and the
insular _kadiacensis_ was slight. Specimens collected after Merriam
proposed the name for the weasel of Kodiak Island show the animal there
to be less different from _arctica_ of the adjacent mainland than he
thought; small size is the most pronounced distinction of
_kadiacensis_ and Merriam's male type specimen is smaller than any of
the five additional males saved from Kodiak Island since that time.
Even so the differences fully warrant subspecific recognition, in my
opinion, although _kadiacensis_ is not a strongly differentiated race.
More adult females are needed to ascertain the norm of form and size
for that sex. If the one female known is typical, the difference from
_arctica_ is more pronounced in females than in males. The lesser size
of _kadiacensis_ can hardly be credited entirely to the effect of
insularity, for animals from the southern part of the mainland, on
Kenai Peninsula for example, are smaller than those from central and
northern Alaska and provide evidence of intergradation of a sort
between _kadiacensis_ and _arctica_.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 9, all from Kodiak Island,
Alaska, and unless otherwise indicated in the U. S. National
Museum.
Karluk, 1 (Stanford Univ.); Kodiak, 7; Kodiak Island, 1 (Field
Mus. Nat. Hist.).
=Mustela erminea richardsonii= Bonaparte
Ermine
Plates 2, 3, 4, 9, 10 and 11
_Mustela richardsonii_ Bonaparte, Charlesworth's Mag. Nat. Hist.,
2:38, 1838.
_Putorius cicognanii_, Baird, Mamm. N. Amer., p. 161, 1858 (part).
_Putorius richardsonii_, Baird, Mamm. N. Amer., p. 164, 1858
(part-Halifax, N. S.).
_Putorius_ (_Gale_) _erminea_, Coues, Fur-bearing animals, p. 109,
1877 (part).
_Putorius richardsoni_, Bangs, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 10:16,
February 25, 1896.
_Putorius cicognani richardsoni_, Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, 11:11,
June 30, 1896.
_Putorius (Arctogale) cicognanii cicognanii_, Bangs, Proc. New
England Zoöl. Club, 1:18, February 28, 1899.
_Putorius microtis_ Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 19:563,
October 10, 1903. Type from Shesley, British Columbia.
_Putorius arcticus imperii_ Barrett-Hamilton, Ann. and Mag. Nat.
Hist., 13(ser. 7):392, May, 1904. Type from Fort Simpson,
Mackenzie, Canada.
_Putorius cicognanii richardsoni_, Preble, N. Amer. Fauna, 27:231,
October 26, 1908.
_Mustela microtis_, Miller, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull., 79:96, December
31, 1912.
_Mustela cicognanii mortigena_ Bangs, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl.,
54:511, July, 1913. Type from Bay St. George, Newfoundland.
_Mustela cicognanii_, Sheldon, Journ. Mamm., 13:201, August 9,
1932.
_Mustela cicognanii richardsonii_, Miller, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull.,
79:95, December 31, 1912; Hall, Univ. California Publ. Zoöl.,
40:368, November 5, 1934.
_Mustela cicognanii cicognanii_, Hall, Canadian Field-Nat., 52:108,
October, 1938.
_Mustela erminea richardsonii_, Hall, Journ. Mamm., 26:77, February
27, 1945; Hall, Journ. Mamm., 26:180, July 19, 1945.
_Type._--Male, age unknown, skin; no. 43.3.3.4, British Museum of
Natural History; probably from Fort Franklin, Canada; presented to
British Museum on or before March 3, 1843; may be the type.
In September, 1937, when I searched in the British Museum for the
skull, I found no trace of it nor mention of it in catalogues. The
skin is in white, winter pelage, mounted on a pedestal. See under
remarks for _Mustela e. cicognanii_ for reasons for and reasons
against regarding this specimen as the holotype.
_Range._--Hudsonian and Canadian life-zones of the greater part of
Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific. See figure 25 on page 95.
_Characters for ready recognition._--Differs from _M. e. arctica_,
_polaris_, _semplei_ and _haidarum_, in both sexes, by proximal
two-thirds of under side of tail colored same as upper parts
rather than same as underparts, and interorbital breadth less,
rather than not less, than distance between glenoid fossa and
posterior border of external auditory meatus; from _M. e. bangsi_,
in that, in both sexes, least width of color of underparts
averages two-fifths rather than about a third of greatest width of
color of upper parts, and in that skulls of males are a fourth
heavier, basilar length averaging more than 40; from _M. e.
cicognanii_, in both sexes, in that least width of color of
underparts averages two-fifths instead of less than a third of
greatest width of color of upper parts, in females by 20 per cent
heavier skull (1.1 versus 0.92), in males by skull more, rather
than less, than 1.9 grams, and basilar length more, instead of
less, than 38; from _M. e. invicta_, in males, by skull more,
instead of less, than 1.9 grams; mastoid breadth more, instead of
less, than 19.9 mm.; depth of skull at anterior margin of
braincase more, instead of less, than 12.4 mm.; in females, by
same measurement of depth more, instead of less, than 10.1, and
weight of skull averaging more, instead of less, than one gram;
from _M. e. fallenda_ in both sexes upper lips white rather than
brown, in males, hind foot more than 41, basilar length more than
38.3, in females hind foot more than 29, basilar length more than
31.4, and breadth of rostrum amounting to less, instead of more,
than 30 per cent of basilar length; from _M. e. alascensis_ in
males in that black tip of tail more than 43, total length more
than 320, tympanic bullae more than 14 and longer than tooth-row
rather than less than 14 mm. and sometimes shorter than tooth-row,
females not individually distinguishable.
_Description._--_Size._--Male: Four adults (Fort Franklin, Fort
Simpson, Mts. W Fort Nelson, and Govt. Hay Camp, Wood Buffalo
Park) yield average and respective measurements as follows: Total
length, 331 average (340, 325, 330, 328); length of tail, 93 (102,
91, 93, 87); length of hind foot, 45 (48, 43, 45, 44). Weight of 4
adults from the Belcher Islands is 175 (135-180) grams. Of 10
subadults from Belcher Islands it is 119 (92-137) grams.
Female: Three adults from Great Slave Lake (Willow River,
Fairchild Point, and Fort Resolution) yield average and respective
measurements as follows: Total length, 252 (237, 238, 282); length
of tail, 69 (63, 60, 85); length of hind foot, 32 (31, 32, 34).
Corresponding, average measurements for three adults from Glacier
Lake are 240, 60, 32 and for 3 adults from the Athabasca Delta,
243, 65, 30. Weight of 8 subadults from the Belcher Islands is 69
(64-78) grams. Weight of adults would be more.
_Color._--Winter pelage all white except tip of tail. Summer
pelage with upper parts uniform in color and darker (16_n_) than
Raw Umber, and about tones 3 to 4 of Chocolate of Oberthür and
Dauthenay, pl. 343. Underparts Sulphur Yellow, Colonial Buff, or
Primrose Yellow, often nearly white on chin and insides of
forelegs; color of underparts extends narrowly over upper lips,
distally on posterior sides of forelegs onto antipalmar faces of
toes and sometimes over most of antipalmar surfaces of forefeet,
on medial sides of hind legs to a point between knee and ankle but
reappears on antiplantar faces of toes and in some individuals is
narrowly continuous onto toes. Least width of color of underparts
averaging, in a series of 12 males from the Athabasca Lake Region,
40 (25-54) per cent of greatest width of color of upper parts.
Black tip of tail averaging 56 (45-63) mm. in 5 adult males from
same region and thus 60 (48-70) per cent of length of
tail-vertebrae.
From _arctica_, _polaris_, _semplei_ and _kadiacensis_,
_richardsonii_ differs in: Color darker; ventral side of tail same
color as upper parts; light-colored underparts a fifth narrower;
black tip of tail by actual measurement a fifth shorter and
averaging less than two-thirds rather than more than four-fifths
of length of tail-vertebrae. From _cicognanii_, _richardsonii_
differs in that the underparts are a fourth wider and in some
specimens more brightly colored. The width of the underparts is
likewise a fourth more than in _bangsi_. In _invicta_ the
underparts are not so brightly colored as in some specimens of
_richardsonii_. From _fallenda_, _richardsonii_ differs in that
the upper parts often are lighter colored, upper lips white rather
than colored like upper parts, and underparts as wide again. In
comparison with _alascensis_, the black tip of the tail averages
three-fifths rather than a half of length of tail-vertebrae.
_Skull._--Male (based on 6 adults from 3 miles south of Big
Island, Great Slave Lake): See measurements and plates 2-4;
weight, 2.5 (2.1-2.9) grams; basilar length, 40.9 (39.6-43.7);
length of tooth-rows less than length of tympanic bulla; breadth
of rostrum measured across lacrimal processes less than a third of
basilar length; interorbital breadth less than distance between
glenoid fossa and posterior border of external auditory meatus;
zygomatic breadth less than distance between last upper molar and
jugular foramen.
Female (based on 4 adults: from Willow River, 1; Fort Resolution,
1; Athabasca Delta, 2; and 2 subadults, one from 3 mi. S Big
Island and one from 15 mi. above Smith Landing): See measurements
and plates 9-11; weight, 1.1 (0.9-1.4) grams; basilar length, 33.1
(31.5-34.2); length of tooth-rows less than length of tympanic
bulla; breadth of rostrum less than 30 per cent of basilar length;
interorbital breadth less than distance between glenoid fossa and
posterior border of external auditory meatus; zygomatic breadth
less than distance between last upper molar and jugular foramen.
The skull of the female averages 56 per cent lighter than that of
the male.
Comparison of the skull with that of _arctica_, _polaris_, _semplei_,
_kadiacensis_, _haidarum_, _cicognanii_, _bangsi_, _invicta_,
_fallenda_, and _alascensis_ is made in the accounts of those
subspecies.
_Remarks._--_M. e. richardsonii_ has the most extensive geographic
range of any American race of _erminea_, is centrally located with
respect to the other races, is more abundantly represented by study
specimens in zoölogical collections than any other race, and is a sort
of average for the species as a whole in most structural features.
Therefore _richardsonii_ is used as a standard of comparison and
accordingly is more fully described than any one of the other races
each of which by reference to _richardsonii_ is described in
comparative fashion. This comparative description has the virtue of
more clearly indicating differences between subspecies and also makes
for brevity.
John Richardson, Bernard R. Ross, and names of their companions, as
written on the labels of the older specimens recall to the student's
mind early explorations of the north country. Edward A. Preble obtained
important specimens at several places and in recent years J. Kenneth
Doutt and G. G. Goodwin have made the reviser's work easier by
preparing specimens in series from areas not previously well
represented.
The nomenclatural history of this subspecies begins with references in
the literature that identify the animal as the Old World species,
_Mustela erminea_--an identification which the study here reported upon
shows to have been correct in the specific, although not in the
subspecific, sense. Richardson, for example, in his "Fauna
Boreali-Americana" published in 1829 so identified the animal. In 1838,
Bonaparte, basing his description on Richardson's account of 1829,
proposed the new name _richardsonii_. Richardson himself, the following
year in the "Zoology of Beechey's Voyage," accepted Bonaparte's name
and it has been applied to the animal in the central part of the
northern timber-belt of North America ever since, except as authors
used the name _Mustela erminea_ in the belief that _richardsonii_ was
not distinct from _erminea_.
The north and south boundaries of the range assigned to _richardsonii_
varied according to the notions of the particular writer who was
employing the name. Until Merriam in 1896 named _arctica_ as distinct,
animals from the far north were generally included under the name
_richardsonii_ along with populations to which the latter name now is
applied. Because _richardsonii_ grades gradually into the smaller
_cicognanii_ of more southern occurrence the boundary between the two
has been set farther north by one writer and farther south by another,
depending probably upon what the writer felt was the halfway point in
size. This point of course depended upon the samples selected as
typical of _richardsonii_ on the north and _cicognanii_ on the south.
Because Bangs, in 1896, took as representative of _richardsonii_ the
far northern and hence large-sized animals (now separated as _M. e.
arctica_), his halfway point in size between them and the small
_cicognanii_ of New England naturally fell farther north than it would
have had he used as representative of _richardsonii_ specimens from
places south of the range of _arctica_.
In 1903 J. A. Allen proposed the name _Putorius microtis_ for a
specimen from Shesley, northwestern British Columbia, a place
approximately 50 miles northwest of Telegraph Creek. Considering the
great disparity in size between this one specimen and the other larger
specimens of normal size, from the general region, available to Allen
at that time, it is not surprising that he thought two full species
were represented. In 1943 when G. G. Goodwin called to my attention two
males, as small as the type of _microtis_ and taken by him
approximately 300 miles east of Shesley, in the valley between the
Musqwa and Prophet rivers, I for a second time examined all available
specimens and data with the possibility in mind that _microtis_ was a
species or subspecies distinct from _M. e. richardsonii_, but again
concluded that only one subspecies was involved because no character
except size was found to distinguish the large from the small
individuals of a given sex and there are, preserved from northern
British Columbia, individuals of intermediate size. _Putorius microtis_
Allen seems to have been based on an individual of _M. e. richardsonii_
near the lower limit of size for that subspecies and _microtis_ is
regarded as a synonym.
Barrett-Hamilton in 1904 named the animal at "Fort Simpson, British
Columbia" _Putorius arcticus imperii_. Preble (1908:232) pointed out
that Fort Simpson on the Mackenzie undoubtedly was the place intended,
and arranged _imperii_ as a synonym of _M. e. richardsonii_. The type
specimen of _imperii_ was stated to have been received from B. M. Ross
who is known to have collected specimens, including specimens of this
species (now in U. S. Nat. Mus.), at Fort Simpson on the Mackenzie. I
know of no Fort Simpson in British Columbia. If, as seems improbable,
Port Simpson, British Columbia, was the place that Barrett-Hamilton
intended to designate (where so far as I know Ross did not collect),
the name _imperii_ still would seem to be a synonym of _richardsonii_
because _richardsonii_ seems to be the race of weasel at Port Simpson.
In proposing the name _Putorius arcticus imperii_, Barrett-Hamilton
stressed that the weasel, which he was naming, was a subspecies of _P.
arcticus_, gave characters which applied perfectly to _richardsonii_
but made no reference to _richardsonii_. Barrett-Hamilton did not refer
to _richardsonii_ possibly because he relied on Merriam's
classification of 1896 wherein _richardsonii_ is treated as a species
distinct from _arctica_. Merriam, it will be remembered, held that
slight degree of morphological difference rather than intergradation
was the criterion for subspecies. Although I have no record of having
examined the type specimen of _imperii_ I have but little hesitancy in
treating it as a synonym, and would have no hesitancy at all in so
doing if the type was certainly known to have been obtained at Fort
Simpson on the Mackenzie.
The name _Mustela cicognanii mortigena_ Bangs, 1913, proposed for the
ermine of Newfoundland, is placed as a synonym of _richardsonii_ only
after repeated, detailed comparisons. In advance of study I supposed
that the isolation of the ermine, in Newfoundland, had contributed to
its differentiation, which, however, the original describer, Bangs,
indicated was slight. Bangs was a careful worker and I am confident
that the differences he described really existed between his specimens.
Material more nearly adequate than he had from the mainland, shows the
males, so far as my measurements and comparisons go, to be in nowise
different from those in Newfoundland. Females in Newfoundland may have,
on the average, slightly longer hind feet than on the opposite mainland
but I am not certain that they do and even if there is a slight
difference in this regard as suggested by available data, I think it
insufficient basis, alone, for according subspecific status to the
insular animal.
The name _richardsonii_ was based by Bonaparte on Richardson's
description which in turn was drawn from a specimen taken at Fort
Franklin, that thus becomes the type locality. It is fortunate that
Preble, in 1903, succeeded in taking specimens there because the place
is near the belt of intergradation between _arctica_ and
_richardsonii_. Of Preble's two adult males (see Preble, 1908:232) I
have examined no. 133847, which is in transitional pelage and therefore
gives no clue in so far as coloration is concerned, as to affinities
with _arctica_ versus _richardsonii_. Specimens in the summer pelage
are much to be desired from Fort Franklin. Regardless of what their
coloration may be, specimen no. 133847, in external measurements and
most certainly in cranial features is of the race to the south and not
the race that Merriam named _arctica_. Because all specimens from
localities to the south of Fort Franklin likewise differ from _arctica_
of the barren grounds, considerable additional confidence is felt in
allocating the name _richardsonii_ to the animal which ranges from Fort
Franklin southward rather than to the one, here designated _arctica_,
that occurs to the northward of Fort Franklin.