Collection, from near Leighton, Alabama, no. 178386 from the Tennessee
River nine miles north [of Leighton?] and no. 180240 from La Grange
Mountain, although clearly referable to _olivacea_ on the basis of
cranial characters, show some approach to _noveboracensis_ in lesser
size of the skull and agree with _noveboracensis_ in the narrowness of
the color of the underparts. Also, these specimens, like others from
the northern part of the range of _olivacea_, for instance, no 31.227,
Charleston Museum, from Mayesville, South Carolina, have the color of
the underparts extended only part way out on the hind limb toward the
foot. In specimens of _olivacea_ from the southern part of its range
the color of the underparts is extended onto the hind feet and this
trend reaches its extreme in _peninsulae_, specimens of which have the
feet and larger parts of the limbs marked with the light color of the
underparts.
An adult female, no. 32.32, Charleston Museum, although typical of
_olivacea_ in most respects, is nevertheless an intergrade. The teeth
are as small as in some specimens of _noveboracensis_. The size of the
skull is only slightly nearer that of _olivacea_ than it is to that of
_noveboracensis_. The proportions of the skull, however, are distinctly
those of _olivacea_.
Five other specimens, from northwestern Alabama, namely two from eight
miles north of Nauvoo, two from Shoal Creek, and one from White Creek,
also show intergradation between _noveboracensis_ and _olivacea_. The
remarks concerning color and color pattern of the specimens from
Leighton apply equally well to the five from northwestern Alabama. In
cranial characters, no. 51658 from Shoal Creek is referable to
_olivacea_, as also is no. 51677 from the same place, providing it is a
female rather than a male as sexed by the collector. No. 57146 from
White Creek also is referable to _olivacea_ although the skull shows
some approach to that of _noveboracensis_. Of the two males from near
Nauvoo, no. 51652 is to me indistinguishable from _noveboracensis_, but
no. 51653 does have some characters of _olivacea_, although on the
whole, the latter, too, seems to be a little nearer _noveboracensis_
than _olivacea_. However, because the mean of these seven specimens
from northwestern Alabama is nearer _olivacea_ than _noveboracensis_
the former name may be applied.
Another specimen from "Souinlonie" Creek, Clark County, Mississippi,
has the coloration and rostral configuration of _primulina_, narrow
mastoidal breadth and smaller teeth of _noveboracensis_ and skull of
large size with "full" braincase as in _olivacea_. No. 235364, U. S.
Nat. Mus., from the Mobile River at the "L. and N. RR. Crossing,"
Mobile County, Alabama, although definitely _olivacea_, shows approach
to _arthuri_ in that the dorsal outline of the skull is longitudinally
more convex and the tympanic bullae are less inflated than in
_olivacea_ and in that the color of the underparts is almost exactly as
in the type specimen of _arthuri_. The young specimen labeled as from
"Silver Springs," Florida, has large tympanic bullae (17 mm. long) and
several characters that show its relationship to _peninsulae_ as that
race is now understood. Because the sex is unknown the identification
as _olivacea_ is tentative and is made on the assumption that the
specimen is a male. If it is instead a female, the animal is referable
to _peninsulae_.
An adult, female specimen in the Charleston Museum, no. 27.239.1, taken
at St. Matthews, South Carolina, on December 8, 1927, contained four
embryos which averaged 19 mm. in length and 47.75 centigrams in weight.
Another adult female, in the Charleston Museum, no. 32.32, taken on
February 21, 1932, at the same place, has prominent mammae, and the
collector has noted that two were slightly active.
Sixteen of twenty-nine adults examined show infestation of the frontal
sinuses by parasites. However, in none is the malformation of the
frontal region so great as frequently occurs in _M. f. noveboracensis_.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 52, arranged alphabetically
by states and from north to south by counties in each state.
Except as otherwise indicated specimens are in the University of
California Museum of Vertebrate Zoölogy.
=Alabama.= _Lawrence County_: White Creek, 1; Little Sand Mt.,
Shoal Creek, 2. _Winston County_: 7-1/2 mi. N Nauvoo, 1; 8 mi. N
Nauvoo, 1. _Lauderdale County_: near Leighton, 9 mi. N Tennessee
River, 1[91]. _Colbert County_: Leighton, 1[91]. _Autauga County_:
Autaugaville, 1[91]. _Dale County_: Midland City, 1[91]. _Mobile
County_: Mobile River, 12 mi. NE Mobile, 1[91].
=Florida.= _Alachua County_: Gainesville, 4[61]. _Marion County_:
"Silver Springs," 1.
=Georgia.= _Spalding County_, 1. _Lamar County_, 1. _Talbot
County_: southwest part of county, 1; Box Springs, near Geneva, 3;
Upatoie Creek, 1 mi. SW Box Springs, 2; 3 mi. SE Geneva, 1; 4 mi.
W Geneva, 1; 5 mi. W Geneva, 1; 2 mi. E Geneva, 1. _Chattahoochee
County_, 2. _Grady County_: Beachton, 3[91]; locality no more
definite than county, 4. _Thomas County_: Sinkola Plantation, 2;
locality no more definite than county, 2. _Charlton County_: 1/2
mi. E Chesser's Island, Okefinokee Swamp, 1[58]. _County_ in
question: Billy's Island, Okefinokee Swamp, 1[91]; Okefinokee
Swamp, 1[58].
=Mississippi.= _Clark County_: Souinlonie Creek, 1.
=South Carolina.= _Darlington County_: Society Hill, 1[91].
_Sumter County_: Mayesville, 1[11]. _Calhoun County_: St.
Matthews, 2[11]. _Georgetown County_: Sampit, 1[11]. Charleston
County: Rantowles, 1[11]; 8 mi. N Charleston, 1[11]. _Beaufort
County_: Yemassee, 1[2].
=Mustela frenata peninsulae= (Rhoads)
Long-tailed Weasel
Plates 16, 17 and 18
_Putorius peninsulae_ Rhoads, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia,
1894:152, June 19, 1894; Bangs, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington,
10:10, February 25, 1896.
_Mustela peninsulae_, Miller, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull., 79:98,
December 31, 1912.
_Mustela p. peninsulae_, Bailey, Bailey Mus. and Library Nat.
Hist., 1(no. 5):1, December 1, 1930.
_Mustela frenata peninsulae_, Hall, Carnegie Instit. Washington
Publ. 473:105, September 20, 1936.
_Type._--Female, young, part skull and skin; no. 8515, Acad. Nat.
Sci. Philadelphia; Hudson's, Pasco County [14 miles north of
Tarpon Springs], Florida; before 1895; obtained by W. S.
Dickinson.
The skull has been cut vertically in two at the plane of the
glenoid fossae. These fossae and all the cranium posterior to them
are missing. In addition to the part of the cranium anterior to
the glenoid fossae, the lower jaws are preserved complete. The
teeth all are present and entire. The prominent sutures on the
rostrum and palate show the specimen to be young and its small
size leaves but little doubt that the animal was a female. The
light facial markings are more extensive than in any of the
referred specimens. In the type these light facial markings
consist of a median isolated spot immediately in front of the
ears, a larger one on the nose, with an interrupted bar on each
side extending posteroventrally in front of and anterior to the
eye, a wider bar, on each side, extending anterodorsally between
the ear and eye and finally an isolated spot at the anterior
border of each ear. The skin is stuffed and in fair condition
except that the vertebrae remain in the tail.
_Range._--Austral and probably Tropical life-zones of Florida
south of latitude 29°. See figure 29 on page 221.
_Characters for ready recognition._--Differs from _M. f.
olivacea_ in coarser pelage and larger tympanic bullae.
_Description._--_Size._--Male: No external measurements available.
Female: The type a young animal and no. 2379, an adult from Tarpon
Springs, measure respectively as follows: Total length, 375, 378;
length of tail, 100, 130; length of hind foot, 40, 44.5.
_Externals._--As described in _Mustela frenata noveboracensis_
except that hairiness of foot-soles as shown in figure 20.
_Color._--Upper parts (in winter) near tone 3 of Burnt Umber of
Oberthür and Dauthenay, pl. 304. Dark spot at each angle of mouth
present or absent. Tip of tail black. Underparts Reed Yellow
except on chin and usually on legs where white. Upper lips white
entirely around. Upper parts of uniform color. Color of underparts
extends distally on legs over both sides of feet and on front legs
over wrists. Proximal part of tail slightly lighter below than
above. Least width of color of underparts, in seven specimens,
averaging 41 (extremes 31-52) per cent of greatest width of color
of upper parts. Black tip of tail, in each of two females, 45 mm.
long; thus slightly longer than hind foot and amounting to 36 per
cent of length of tail-vertebrae.
The spot at the angle of the mouth is absent in four of the ten
specimens and is present on both sides in the other six.
_Skull and teeth._--Male (based on an adult from Apopka and the
anterior part of an adult from Enterprise): See measurements and
plates 16-18. As described in _Mustela frenata olivacea_ except
that: Weight, 7.0 grams; basilar length, 49.8.
Female (based on an adult from Tarpon Springs, Florida): See
measurements. As described in _Mustela frenata olivacea_ except
that: Weight, 4.7 grams; basilar length, 44.2; zygomatic breadth
more than distance between anterior palatine foramen and anterior
margin of tympanic bulla.
In comparison with _M. f. olivacea_, the insufficient material of _M.
f. peninsulae_ suggests that its skull averages larger and has
relatively as well as actually larger and more inflated tympanic
bullae.
_Remarks._--The first published mention of this weasel seems to have
been the original description which appeared in 1894. This description
was based on a single specimen sent to Samuel N. Rhoads by W. S.
Dickinson, who, in the following year, procured another specimen at
Tarpon Springs. So far as known only eight other specimens, as listed
under "_Specimens examined_," have found their way into collections of
study specimens.
H. H. Bailey (1930:1) credits the range of this subspecies as extending
south "to the shores of Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, where ever
high ground occurs."
Evidence of intergradation between _M. f. peninsulae_ and _M. f.
olivacea_ is provided by specimens of _olivacea_ from Gainesville,
Florida, and the Okefinokee Swamp, Georgia. These specimens, on the
average, have the color of the underparts wider, the skull larger, and
the tympanic bullae relatively larger than do specimens of _olivacea_
from farther north. In these features, approach to _M. f. peninsulae_
is shown.
Light facial markings occur in this subspecies. They are similar to
those possessed by weasels which occur at the same latitude and under
corresponding climatic conditions on the Pacific Coast. The type
specimen and one from Tarpon Springs have white facial markings. Two of
the three specimens from Apopka also show white facial markings,
although in reduced amount. One of the four specimens of _M. f.
olivacea_ from Gainesville, Florida, has well-developed light (white)
facial markings. Also of the four specimens of _M. f. olivacea_
examined from Okefinokee Swamp, Georgia, one has prominent white facial
markings. However, in it the pattern is so unusual as to suggest that
it is an instance of partial albinism rather than an outcropping of a
racial tendency, or a pattern of coloration induced by climatic
factors.
None of the eight available skulls show any infestation of the frontal
sinuses by parasites.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 10, arranged by counties from
west to east.
=Florida.= _Pasco County_: Hudson's, 1[1]. _Pinellas County_:
Tarpon Springs, 1[1]. _Hernando County_, 1[91]. _Polk County_:
Auburndale, 1[91]; no locality more definite than county, 1[91].
_Orange County_: Apopka, 3[61]. _Volusia County_: Enterprise,
1[60]. _Seminole County_: Osceola, 1[2].
=Mustela frenata spadix= (Bangs)
Long-tailed Weasel
Plates 16, 17, 18, 31, 32 and 33
_Putorius longicauda spadix_ Bangs, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington,
10:8, February 25, 1896; Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, 11:21, figs.
10, 11, June 30, 1896; Cory, Mamm. Illinois and Wisconsin, p.
374, 1912.
_Mustela longicauda spadix_, Miller, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull., 79:98,
December 31, 1912; Bailey, Journ. Mamm., 10:156, May 9, 1929.
_Mustela longicauda_, Johnson, Journ. Mamm., 11:439, November 11,
1930.
_Mustela noveboracensis_, Murie, Journ. Mamm., 16:321, November 15,
1935.
_Mustela frenata spadix_, Hall, Carnegie Instit. Washington Publ.
473:105, November 20, 1936.
_Type._--Male, young, skull and skin; no. 3265/1786, Amer. Mus.
Nat. Hist.; Fort Snelling, Hennepin County, Minnesota; June 25,
1889; obtained by Edgar A. Mearns; original no. 812.
The skull is complete although there are fractures on the top of
the braincase, on the right side of the braincase and at the
middle of the right zygomatic arch. The teeth all are present and
entire. The skin, although overstuffed, is complete, well
preserved, and in summer pelage.
_Range._--Upper Austral and Transition life-zones of Minnesota,
northern and western Iowa, southeastern North Dakota, eastern part
of South Dakota, and northeastern Nebraska. See figure 29 on page
221.
_Characters for ready recognition._--Differs from _M. f.
noveboracensis_ and _M. f. primulina_ in that specimens of all
ages have least width of color of underparts amounting to more
than 41 per cent of greatest width of color of upper parts, and
have light color of underparts extended onto hind foot rather than
stopped short of ankle; adults with hind feet more than 50 in
males and 40 in females; orbitonasal length more than 15.5 in
males and 13.5 in females; length of tooth-rows more than 18.0 in
males and 15.7 in females; mastoid breadth more than 25.5 in males
and 22.0 in females. From _M. f. longicauda_ by color darker than
near (_h_) Clay Color, in males by a flattened occiput in which
the depth of the skull, exclusive of the sagittal crest and taken
at the anterior border of the basioccipital, amounts to less than
58 per cent of the mastoid breadth.
_Description._--_Size._--Male: Three adults from Elk River,
Minnesota, yield average and extreme measurements as follows:
Total length, 458 (444-467); length of tail, 154 (140-165); length
of hind foot, 55 (52-59). Tail averages 51 per cent as long as
head and body. Length of hind foot averages more than basal
length. Corresponding measurements of three subadults from
Madison, Minnesota, are as follows: 453 (438-469); 157 (152-165);
50 (47-51). Tail averages 53 per cent as long as head and body.
Female: Three adults from Elk River, Minnesota, yield average and
extreme measurements as follows: Total length, 387 (380-391);
length of tail, 131 (121-138); length of hind foot, 44 (43-46).
Tail averages 51 per cent as long as head and body. Length of hind
foot more or less than (approximately equal to) basal length.
Corresponding measurements of two adults and one subadult from
Madison, Minnesota, are as follows: 385 (379-396); 137 (119-159);
42 (38-44). Tail averages 55 per cent as long as head and body.
The average differences in external measurements of the two sexes
from Elk River, are: Total length, 71; length of tail, 23; length
of hind foot, 11. At Madison, corresponding differences are 68,
20, and 8. Two adult females from Elk River, Minnesota, weigh 205
and 210 grams.
_Externals._--Longest facial vibrissae black, brown, or white
(often all three colors in same specimen) and extending beyond
ear; carpal vibrissae same color as underparts and extending to
apical pad of fifth digit; hairiness of foot-soles (in summer
pelage) as shown in figure 19.
_Color._--Winter pelage all white except tip of tail. In southern
part of range sometimes assumes a brown winter coat. Summer pelage
with upper parts ranging from near (16´) Cinnamon Brown to Vandyke
Brown. Chin and upper lips white. Remainder of underparts ranging
from near (a) Olive Ocher to Ochraceous Buff and Pale Orange
Yellow. Tip of tail at all times black. Upper parts of uniform
color except for occasional slight darkening of nose. Color of
underparts extends distally on posterior sides of forelegs over
toes onto antipalmar faces of feet and ankles, on medial sides of
hind limbs to ankle, over antiplantar faces of toes and
distomedial fourth of each tarsus, and over proximal fifth to
third of under side of tail. Least width of color of underparts
averaging (in 3 specimens from Elk River) 54 (47-59) per cent of
greatest width of color of upper parts. Black tip of tail
averaging same length as hind foot and 28 per cent of length of
tail-vertebrae. Save for the greater width of the light-colored
underparts and relatively short black tip of the tail, both
features of _M. f. longicauda_, _spadix_ is variously
intermediate, depending on locality, as between _noveboracensis_
and _longicauda_.
_Skull and teeth._--Male (based on 3 adults from Elk River,
Minn.): See measurements and plates 16-18. As described in
_Mustela frenata longicauda_ except that: Weight, 5.6 (5.0-6.5);
basilar length, 49.0 (48.7-49.2); zygomatic breadth sometimes less
than distance between anterior palatine foramen and anterior
margin of tympanic bulla; postorbital breadth more or less (about
equal to) width of basioccipital measured from medial margin of
one foramen lacerum posterior to its opposite; interorbital
breadth more or less than distance between foramen opticum and
anterior margin of tympanic bulla; anterior margin of tympanic
bulla as far posterior to foramen ovale as width of 4 to 5 upper
incisors; height of tympanic bulla more or less than distance from
its anterior margin to foramen ovale; length of tympanic bulla
less than length of rostrum; anterior margin of masseteric fossa
below talonid of m1.
Female (based on 4 adults from Elk River, Minn.): See measurements
and plates 31-33. As described in _Mustela frenata longicauda_
except that: Weight, 3.5 (3.3-4.0) grams; basilar length, 42.9
(42.3-43.2); least width of palate more or less than greatest
length of P4; tympanic bulla as far posterior to foramen ovale as
width of 3 to 5 upper incisors.
The skull of the female averages 33 per cent lighter than that of
the male.
Skulls of adult males of _spadix_ from Elk River, Minnesota, as
compared with those of _longicauda_ from Alberta, are larger in every
part measured. Relative to the basilar length these skulls of _spadix_
are broader across the mastoid region, narrower across the zygomata,
deeper through the plane of the postorbital processes, shallower
through the braincase and have relatively shorter tympanic bullae.
Whereas the tympanic bullae of _longicauda_ are, on the average,
approximately as long as the rostrum (orbitonasal length), in _spadix_
the rostrum is longer than the bulla. Viewed posteriorly, the braincase
of _spadix_ is seen to be much shallower and wider than that of
_longicauda_. Indeed, the depth of the braincase, measured at the
anterior end of the basioccipital, amounts to only 56 per cent of the
mastoid breadth in _spadix_ as against 61 per cent in _longicauda_. The
longer, waistlike, postorbital constriction, relatively smaller
braincase, and especially the relatively narrower zygomatic expanse in
_spadix_ imparts to its skull a more slender appearance than has the
skull of _longicauda_. These differences are not shown by the skulls of
females. To be sure, _spadix_, in most of its cranial measurements,
averages slightly larger, has a relatively shallower braincase and is
relatively deeper through the postorbital processes, but these
differences are so slight that inclusion of one more specimen, of
slightly different proportions, in the average might cause the average
measurements to read as they do in _longicauda_.
Compared with _noveboracensis_, from Massachusetts, adult skulls of
_spadix_, taking sex into account, are larger in every part measured
and are relatively as well as actually wider and deeper throughout.
Also, in _spadix_: Sagittal and lambdoidal crests higher, especially in
females; anterior margin of tympanic bulla projecting up sharply from
squamosal; occiput more flattened in posterior view; tooth-rows
relatively and actually longer but orbitonasal length relatively
shorter; postorbital processes more robust; zygomatic arches widely
bowed outward rather than evenly rounded; canines larger; squamosal
less swollen ventrally, especially in females. Between _noveboracensis_
and _spadix_, the differential cranial characters are greater in number
and degree between females than between males. Comparison of the skull
with that of _M. f. primulina_ is made in discussion of that
subspecies.
_Remarks._--Edgar A. Mearns in 1889 and the early nineties took several
specimens of this weasel and it was principally on these that Bangs in
1896 (p. 8) based his description. The best material, however, is that
from Elk River, Minnesota, collected in later years by Bernard Bailey,
and supplemented by one specimen taken in 1885 by Vernon Bailey and
another by his sister Anna Bailey in 1891 at the same place.
_Mustela frenata spadix_ has just one structural feature of a "unique"
kind which serves to differentiate it from the geographically adjoining
subspecies. This feature is large size. The other diagnostic characters
ascribed to _spadix_ are of an intermediate sort--intermediate as
between two extremes, one found to the westward in _longicauda_ and the
other to the eastward in _noveboracensis_. For example, the
dark-colored upper parts are merely darker than in _longicauda_ and
merely lighter than in _noveboracensis_. The color is not "different";
it is only "intermediate." Furthermore, each of the characters ascribed
to _spadix_, including large size itself, undergoes change from one
part of its geographic range to another; the characters are not
constant over a wide area. Indeed, excepting the large size which
remains relatively uniform over the northern two-thirds of the range,
no two localities have been found from which the specimens can be said
really to agree in characters.
By way of illustration, the coloration of the upper parts may be cited.
Near the range of _noveboracensis_ the average coloration of
individuals from one locality is only a little lighter than in
_noveboracensis_. Farther westward the average coloration is a little
lighter and farther westward yet, toward the range of the extremely
light colored _longicauda_, the average coloration is lighter still.
Although all these animals are darker than _longicauda_ and lighter
than _noveboracensis_, those from the three places do not agree among
themselves. Because of the lack of more than one character of a
"unique" kind and because of the inconstancy, geographically, of other
characters, and for that matter, lack of constancy geographically in
combination of characters, the writer regards _spadix_ as a barely
recognizable subspecies.
Examination of the specimens of _spadix_ shows that the individual
variation in a single species is greater in a region of intergradation
than it is some distance inside the borders of the geographic range of
a well-marked subspecies. This is illustrated by three specimens of _M.
f. spadix_ in fresh summer pelage from the single locality, Elk River,
Minnesota. In these, the color of the upper parts varies from a little
darker than Cinnamon Brown to Vandyke Brown. At any one locality well
within the range of _longicauda_, or _noveboracensis_, there is nowhere
nearly so much variation in color, even in much larger series of
specimens.