Part 18

The winter pelage is brown in all specimens at most localities. The only white pelage seen was in each of three specimens from Glacier, Whatcom County, Washington. A fourth specimen from there is in brown winter pelage. At any one locality there is much variation in the degree to which the dark color of the upper parts encroaches on the area that in most other races is light-colored. An extreme degree of encroachment is shown by a specimen taken on December 1, 1935, by R. A. Cummings, at Vancouver, British Columbia, in which the light color occurs only in three restricted areas, the chin, the throat and the lower breast; otherwise the coat is brown. There are other specimens, for instance from the type locality, which differ mainly in having an additional white spot in the inguinal region. The opposite extreme, in a specimen also from the type locality, is where the least width of the light-colored underparts on the abdominal region is a third of the circumference of the body. The two extremes are connected by a dozen intermediate stages. Of 64 specimens in which the color of the lips was carefully examined, one, from Vancouver, has both the upper and lower-lips brown; 9 have both the upper and lower-lips white; and 54 have the upper lips brown and the lower lips white.

_Specimens examined._--Total number, 72, arranged by localities from north to south. Unless otherwise indicated, specimens are in the National Museum of Canada.

=British Columbia.= Horseshoe Lake, Stillwater, 2; Vancouver, 1[74]; Point Grey, 1[31]; Port Moody, 5[91]; Chilliwack, 8 (2[75], 4[91], 1[60]); Sumas, 19 (18[75], 1[60]); Thurstons Ranch, 2; Cultus Lake, 2; Mt. Baker Range, 5[75]; Lihumption Park, 1; Huntingdon, 14; Tami Hy Creek, 1.

=Washington.= _Whatcom County_: Semiahmoo, 1[91]; New Whatcom, 1[68]; Lake Whatcom, 2[91]; 5 mi. W Glacier, 1[51]; Glacier (3 at 900 ft.), 4[91]; E Side Easton Glacier, Mt. Baker, 1[55]; Morovitz Guard Station, 831 ft., 1[55].

=Mustela erminea olympica= Hall

Ermine

Plates 5, 6, 7, 12, 13 and 14

_Mustela erminea olympica_ Hall, Journ. Mamm., 26:81, February 27, 1945; Hall, Journ. Mamm., 26:181, July 19, 1945.

_Mustela rixosa_, Svihla and Svihla, Murrelet, 13:24, January, 1932.

_Mustela rixosa rixosa_, Svihla and Svihla, Murrelet, 14:39, May, 1933.

_Type._--Male, adult, skull and skin; no. 90738, U. S. Nat. Mus., Biol. Surv. Coll.; near head of Soleduc River, 4500 ft., Olympic Mountains, Clallam County, Washington; April 28, 1897; obtained by Vernon Bailey, original no. 6213.

The skin is well prepared and in good condition. The skull (plates 5-7) is unbroken and the teeth all are present and entire.

_Range._--Olympic Peninsula, Washington, south to Olympia. See figures 25, 27 on pages 95, 149.

_Characters for ready recognition._--Differs from _M. e. anguinae_, in males, by lesser average size, hind foot ordinarily less than 33.4, and interorbital breadth ordinarily less than 8.5, in females by smaller size, total length less than 235, tail less than 65, hind foot less than 27.5, basilar length less than 30.2; from _M. e. fallenda_, in males, by length of hind foot less than 33, black tip of tail less than 36.5, weight of skull less than 1.2 grams, basilar length less than 33.5, in females length of hind foot less than 25.5, weight of skull less than 0.6 grams, basilar length less than 28.4; from _M. e. streatori_ by smaller size, in males hind foot less than 33.0, basilar length ordinarily less than 32.5, in females by hind foot ordinarily not longer than 24, by breadth of rostrum less than 8.6, depth of braincase at posterior border of upper molars less than 7.6.

_Description._--_Size._--Male: Twelve individuals of adult proportions yield average and extreme measurements as follows: Total length, 243 (205-269); length of tail, 65 (60-74); length of hind foot, 31 (29-32).

Female: Corresponding measurements of six females are: 196 (188-208), 52 (45-60?), 23.4 (22.7-24.0). An adult weighs 30 grams.

_Color._--As described in _Mustela erminea streatori_ except that least width of color of underparts averaging, in 12 males of adult proportions, 5 (0-11) per cent of greatest width of color of upper parts. Black tip of tail averaging, in same series, 26 (20-35) mm., which is 40 (31-58) per cent (average the same as in _streatori_) of length of tail-vertebrae.

_Skull._--Male (based on 5 adults): See measurements and plates 5-7. As described in _Mustela erminea richardsonii_ except that: Weight, 1.0 (0.9-1.1) grams; basilar length, 31.8 (30.6-32.5); length of tooth-rows more or less than (about equal to) length of tympanic bulla.

Female (illustrated by 3 adults): See measurements and plates 12-14. As described in _Mustela erminea richardsonii_ except that: Weight, 0.55 (0.52-0.58) grams; basilar length, 27.1 (26.7-27.5); breadth of rostrum more than 30 per cent of basilar length.

In comparison with _streatori_, skulls of corresponding sex average smaller in every measurement taken with no overlap in most of those of females. Exception is to be made for the inner lobe of M1 in males where the size is the same. By weight males are smaller by 10 per cent and females by 14 per cent. In relation to other parts of the skull the tympanic bullae are narrower and in females they are shorter as well. Comparison with _anguinae_ and _fallenda_ has been made in the accounts of those subspecies.

_Remarks._--The smaller size, especially of females, is the principal feature distinguishing this race from _streatori_. On the basis of available data the female of _olympica_ is smaller than that of any other race and hence is the smallest adult weasel of the species _erminea_, in either the Old World or in America.

Intergradation with _streatori_ is indicated by specimens from the southern end of Puget Sound. These specimens are intermediate in size between typical examples of the two races concerned.

The color of the upper parts is uniform and the color pattern varies less than in geographically adjoining races. The white color of the underparts is restricted to a thin line on the abdominal region, but widens out posteriorly in the inguinal region and anteriorly over the pectoral region, throat, chin and lower lips. The upper lips are brown. The brown of the upper parts extends around in front of each foreleg, the two brown areas not quite meeting on the lower throat. The above description applies to each of the 19 specimens examined with regard to these details. Every specimen seen in the winter coat was brown, not white.

_Specimens examined._--Total number, 20, arranged by counties from north to south. Unless otherwise indicated, specimens are in the U. S. National Museum.

=Washington.= _Clallam County_: Clallam Bay, 2 (1[74], 1[94]); Elwha, 2[10]; Johnsons Ranch, 1[60]; Happy Lake, 1[60]; Boulder Lake, 2[60]; near head of Soleduc River, 4500 ft., 1; 12 mi. S Port Angeles, 1[10]. _Jefferson County_: Hayes Cr., 2000 ft., Elwha River, 2; head N Fork Quinault River, 4000 ft., 1; Duckabush, 3; N Fork Skokomish River, 1. _Mason County_: Lake Cushman, 2[76]; 4 mi. S Olympia, 1.

=Mustela erminea streatori= (Merriam)

Ermine

Plates 5, 6, 7, 12, 13 and 14

_Putorius streatori Merriam_, N. Amer. Fauna, 11:13, pl. 2, figs. 5, 5a, 6, 6a, June 30, 1896.

_Putorius cicognanii_, Baird, Mamm. N. Amer., p. 161, 1858 (part unless no. 2395 was a female of _M. frenata_).

_Putorius pusillus_, Baird, Mamm. N. Amer., p. 159, 1858 (part).

_Putorius (Gale) vulgaris_, Coues, Fur-bearing animals, p. 102, 1877 (part).

_Mustela streatori streatori_, Miller, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull., 79:96, December 31, 1912; Grinnell, Univ. California Publ. Zoöl., 40:101, September 26, 1933.

_Mustela cicognanii streatori_, Hall, Murrelet, 12:22, January, 1931; Hall, Univ. California Publ. Zoöl., 38:417, November 8, 1932.

_Mustela erminea streatori_, Hall, Journ. Mamm., 26:77, February 27, 1945; Hall, Journ. Mamm., 26:181, July 19, 1945.

_Mustela rixosa_, Beer, Journ. Mamm., 29:296, August 31, 1948.

_Type._--Male, adult, skull and skin; no. 76646, U. S. Nat. Mus., Biol. Surv. Coll.; Mount Vernon, Skagit Valley, Skagit County, Washington; February 29, 1896; obtained by D. R. Luckey, original no. 3.

The skull is unbroken and the teeth all are present and entire. The skin, in brown winter pelage, is stuffed and in good condition.

_Range._--Western Washington along eastern side of Puget Sound, western Oregon from the Cascades to the coast, and northwestern California south in the humid coastal district nearly to the Golden Gate. See figures 25, 27 on pages 95, 149.

_Characters for ready recognition._--Differs from _M. e. anguinae_, in male, by sagittal crest present and hind foot ordinarily less than 33.5, in female by hind foot less than 27.5, basilar length less than 30.2; from _M. e. fallenda_, in both sexes, by black tip of tail less than half of length of tail-vertebrae, in males hind foot less than 33.7, tympanic bulla about same length as, instead of longer than, upper tooth-rows; weight of skull less than 1-1/4 grams, in female weight of skull less than 0.7 grams, length of lateral side of P4 less than 4 mm.; from _M. e. olympica_, by larger size, in males hind foot more than 33.0, basilar length ordinarily more than 32.5, in females by hind foot ordinarily longer than 24, by breadth of rostrum more than 8.6, depth of braincase at posterior border of upper molars more than 7.6; from _M. e. gulosa_ and _muricus_, in both sexes, by upper lips brown (not white), light color of underparts extending down hind leg no farther than knee, depth of skull at posterior border of upper molars more than 7.7 in females and ordinarily more than 9.6 in males, further from _muricus_ by tail more than 62 in males and more than 49 in females; from _M. e. invicta_ by upper lips white (not brown), in males hind foot more than 36 and basilar length more than 35, in females hind foot more than 29.5 and basilar length more than 30.5.

_Description._--_Size._--Male: Twelve adults from Blaine and Tillamook, Oregon, yield average and extreme measurements as follows: Total length, 255 (245-275); length of tail, 72 (64-80); length of hind foot, 31.5 (30.0-33.5).

Female: Seven adults from Blaine and Tillamook, Oregon, yield average and extreme measurements as follows: Total length, 214 (193-230); length of tail, 55 (50-63); length of hind foot, 25 (24-27).

_Color._--Winter and summer pelages indistinguishable; upper parts uniform and ranging from Raw Umber to slightly darker (16_n_), and about tones 1 to 3 of Dark Chocolate of Oberthür and Dauthenay, pl. 342; underparts white, in summer rarely with a faint buffy suffusion in pectoral region; color of underparts extends from chin, and often lower lips, posteriorly to inguinal region, distally on posterior sides of forelegs onto antipalmar faces of toes (sometimes interrupted at and above wrist) and on medial sides of hind legs hardly to knee. Least width of color of underparts averaging, in twelve adults from Blaine and Tillamook, 10 (0-47) per cent of greatest width of color of upper parts. Black tip of tail, in same series, averaging 28 (24-33) mm. which is 40 (34-47) per cent of length of tail-vertebrae.

_Skull._--Male (based on 12 adults): See measurements and plates 5-7. As described in _Mustela erminea richardsonii_ except that: Weight, 1.1 (1.0-1.2) grams; basilar length, 33.2 (32.5-33.8); length of tooth-rows more or less than (about same as) length of tympanic bulla.

Female (based on 7 adults): See measurements and plates 12-14. As described in _Mustela erminea richardsonii_ except that: Weight, 0.64 (0.60-0.67) grams; basilar length, 28.5 (27.6-29.5); breadth of rostrum more than 30 per cent of basilar length.

Comparison with _anguinae_, _fallenda_, _olympica_, _gulosa_ and _muricus_ is made in accounts of those subspecies.

_Remarks._--This weasel is rare in collections and the best material of it was obtained by Alex Walker in Tillamook County, Oregon, where he resides. The almost ideal series of 30 specimens showed the range of secondary sexual, age, and individual variation expectable in the small ermines of the Pacific Coast of the United States and was the means of allowing satisfactory decision on questions of classification in the related subspecies in which individuals are of comparable size.

Intergradation with each of the geographically adjoining subspecies, _olympica_, _fallenda_, _invicta_, _gulosa_ and _muricus_ is shown by specimens examined. With the last mentioned subspecies, intergradation is shown by two specimens from as far south as Siskiyou County, California, assigned to _muricus_.

The application of the name _streatori_ is difficult because it was based on a specimen from a place where two clines cross. The north-south cline is one of size which decreases to the south. The east-west cline is one of intensity of color, the westernmost (coastal) population being the most intensely colored. The type locality of _streatori_ is at the place where two lines perpendicular to one another, and representing the two clines, cross. This intersection is near the place where the ranges of several subspecies meet. The nomenclatural question is, to which one of 6 subspecies should the name _streatori_ apply. Specimens from barely within the geographic boundaries of four of these subspecies so closely resemble topotypes of _streatori_ that a student with material at his disposal from only the area about Puget Sound naturally would apply the name _streatori_ to all of his specimens, and knowing even of the arrangement adopted in the present account the student will have difficulty in identifying his specimens according to it. Not only will the student find the arrangement difficult, but probably unsatisfactory if he thinks of _streatori_ as being the kind of animal represented by topotypes. I conceive of topotypes of _streatori_ as being nontypical of the subspecies; they are intergrades with _fallenda_. My aim was initially to work out the geographic ranges of subspecies and only subsequently to apply names, according to which type localities fell within the previously determined geographic ranges. By this procedure no greater weight was given to a holotype and to topotypes than to specimens from any other locality.

Of the 40 specimens seen in winter pelage, only one is white. It is from Darrington in the Cascade Mountains of Washington. The 39 others are brown and I doubt that the white pelage ever occurs in the low coastal territory included within the geographic range of _streatori_. This subspecies resembles _anguinae_ and _olympica_ in the great extension of area of the dark-colored upper parts at the expense of the area of the light-colored underparts. The usual arrangement is one where the brown of the two sides nearly meets on the midventral line leaving a sizable, inguinal area of light color connected by a thin line to the sizable area of light color on the pectoral region. The light color of the pectoral area ordinarily is continuous with the light-colored area of the throat and chin but the dark color of the upper parts extends around in front of each foreleg. These extensions of dark color meet on the chest in only 2 of the 56 specimens examined in this regard. Across the abdomen the dark color is continuous in 4 of the 56 specimens. The lower lips are brown instead of white in only 3 individuals and in 2 of these the lip of one side is brown and its opposite is white. The variation in color-pattern is less than in _anguinae_ or than in _fallenda_.

_Specimens examined._--Total number, 63, arranged alphabetically by states, then by counties from north to south in each state. Unless otherwise indicated, specimens are in the U. S. National Museum.

=California.= _Humboldt County_: 10 mi. NE Carlotta, 1[74]. _Mendocino County_: Russian Gulch State Park, 1[74]. _Sonoma County_: Mouth of Gualala River, 1[74].

=Oregon.= _Clatsop County_: Astoria, 1. _Tillamook County_: Tillamook, 16 (14[14], 1[59]); Blaine, 12 (7[14], 2[59], 1[93], 2[76]). _Washington County_: Beaverton, 1[60]; Forest Grove, 1[36]. _Clackamas County_: Oregon City, 1[46]. _Lincoln County_: Newport, 1. _Linn County_: Sico, 1[46]. _Lane County_: Vida Fish Hatchery, 2[101]; McKenzie Bridge, 1[101]; Mercer, 1[75]. _Klamath County_: Deschutes River, 6 mi. E Crescent Lake, 1[101]. _Douglas County_: Gardiner, 1[60]. _Curry County_: Port Orford, 1; Gold Beach, 2[60].

=Washington.= _Skagit County_: N end Whidby Island opposite Deception Pass, 1; Hamilton, 4; Mt. Vernon, 3. _Snohomish County_: Oso, 550 ft., 1; Darrington, 600 ft., 1. _Pacific County_: Wallicut River, 2 mi. E Ilwaco, 1[74]. _Wahkiakum County_: 4 mi. E. Skamokawa, 3[74]. _Cowlitz County_: 4 mi. E mouth Kalama River, 2[74]; 6 mi. E mouth Kalama River, 1[74]. _Skamania County_: 15 mi. N Govt. Springs, 1300 ft., 1.

=Mustela erminea gulosa= Hall

Ermine

Plates 5, 6, 7, 12, 13 and 14

_Mustela erminea gulosa_ Hall, Journ. Mamm., 26:84, February 27, 1945; Hall, Journ. Mamm., 26:181, July 19, 1945.

_Putorius streatori_ Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, 11:14, June 30, 1896.

_Type._--Male, subadult, skull and skin; no. 81998, U. S. Nat. Mus., Biol. Surv. Coll.; Trout Lake, Klickitat County, Washington; February 3, 1897; obtained by P. Schmid, original no. 147.

The skin is in brown winter pelage, and appears to have been made up from a skin split along the midventral line from the anus to the forelegs. It probably was dried by a trapper, is well made, and lacks a patch of hair on the left flank but otherwise is in good condition. The skull lacks the central part of the left zygomatic arch and the posterior two-thirds of the right one. The right m2 is represented only by an abortive stump or the broken root, and i1 and i2 on each side are absent; otherwise, the teeth all are present and entire.

_Range._--Cascades of Washington from northeastern King County south to Mount Adams. See figures 25, 27 on pages 95, 149.

_Characters for ready recognition._--Differs from _M. e. invicta_ and _fallenda_, in both sexes, by anterior margin of tympanic bulla flush with squamosal rather than projecting below floor of braincase (difference slight in females), in males hind foot less than 33.5, weight of skull less than 1-1/4 grams, basilar length less than 33.9, in females by total length less than 222, hind foot shorter than 26, weight of skull less than 0.7 grams, basilar length less than 29; from _M. e. muricus_, in both sexes, by upper parts darker, tone 4 of Chocolate or darker (see description of color) least width of light-colored underparts averaging one-third instead of approximately two-thirds of greatest width of dark-colored upper parts, in males, on the average, tail more than 65, weight of skull more than 0.90 grams, basilar length more than 30.8 mm.; from _M. e. streatori_, in both sexes, by upper lips white (not brown), light color of underparts extending down hind legs below knee, depth of skull at posterior border of upper molars less than 7.7 in females and ordinarily less than 9.6 in males.

_Description._--_Size._--Male: One adult and four subadults from Mount Rainier yield average and extreme measurements as follows: Total length, 253 (238-266); length of tail, 75 (70-83); length of hind foot, 31.5 (30-33). Corresponding measurements of 9 subadults from Trout Lake are: 257 (233-282); length of tail, 76 (56-83); length of hind foot, 30.2 (26-33).

Female: Of adults, 2 from Mount Rainier and 2 from Trout Lake measure as follows: Total length, 202, 203, 216, 210; length of tail, 54, 52, 57, 51; length of hind foot, 24, 24, 25, 24. The averages for these females are 208, 54, 24.3.

_Color._--As described in _Mustela erminea richardsonii_ except that color sometimes brown in winter (with more smoky tinge than summer coat); upper parts ranging from tone 2 through tones 3 and 4 of Dark Chocolate (pl. 342) into tone 4 of Chocolate (pl. 343) of Oberthür and Dauthenay; underparts (always white in winter) in summer Sulphur Yellow or more whitish; least width of color of underparts averaging, in 5 males from Mount Rainier, 31 (18-45) per cent of greatest width of color of upper parts. Black tip of tail, in same series, averaging 34 (29-40) mm., which is 45 (41-50) per cent of length of tail-vertebrae.

_Skull._--Male (based on 2 ad. and 13 sad.): See measurements and plates 5-7. As described in _Mustela erminea richardsonii_ except that: Weight, 1.0 (0.95-1.16) grams; basilar length, 32.3 (30.9-33.4); length of tooth-rows more or less than (about equal to) length of tympanic bulla.

Female (illustrated by 5 adults): See measurements and plates 12-14. As described in _Mustela erminea richardsonii_ except that: Weight, 0.59 (0.53-0.65) grams; basilar length, 28.1 (27.8-28.4); breadth of rostrum ordinarily more than 30 per cent of basilar length.

In comparison with _streatori_, skulls of males and females average smaller in every cranial measurement taken. Teeth of about same size and males 9 per cent, and females 8 per cent, lighter. In relation to basilar length, skull of female shallower, tympanic bullae slightly shorter and, on the average, zygomata less expanded.

In comparison with _muricus_, males average larger in every measurement taken; 23 per cent heavier; in relation to other dimensions, braincase shallower at anterior end of basioccipital. Females are of about equal size; in relation to other dimensions, braincase shallower and mastoid and zygomatic breadths less.

Comparisons with _invicta_ and _fallenda_ have been made in the accounts of those subspecies.

_Remarks._--This is not a strongly marked race and in most of the characters used for differentiating it from other races it resembles either _streatori_ to the west or _muricus_ to the southeast. Nevertheless, there is a geographic area, the southern Cascades of Washington, throughout which individual characters are combined in essentially the same way and there are a few features, for instance, smaller skull of the female, in which _gulosa_ differs from either of its close relatives. In view of these circumstances and because the animals can not well be included in the subspecies _streatori_ or _muricus_, _gulosa_ is recognized as distinct. The races _gulosa_ and _olympica_ are what might be termed weakly differentiated subspecies in contrast to the strongly differentiated subspecies _streatori_ and _muricus_.