Part 41

_M. f. neomexicana_ has a large geographic range. The old male from Liberal, Seward County, Kansas, extends the known range far to the northeast. Geographically, this occurrence is logical for the southwestern desertlike conditions extend to this part of Kansas. Probably the subspecies occurs in southeastern Colorado and in the panhandle of Oklahoma where conditions are similar. Bailey (1905:198) lists _neomexicana_ as a member of the mammalian fauna of Texas. As stated by him (_loc. cit._:198) this inclusion is based on geographic grounds and not on actual specimens. Strecker (1926:13) also includes _neomexicana_ in his list of Texas mammals but writes me, under date of January 9, 1928, that "I included _Mustela frenata neomexicana_ as a Texas mammal on the strength of its being mentioned by Bailey. . . ." On better ground, Bailey (1928:97) lists the subspecies as occurring in southeastern New Mexico at Carlsbad Cavern. However, Bailey (_loc. cit._) knew of the existence of weasels just below El Paso and at Langtry, Texas. An unsexed skeleton, no. 167891, in the United States National Museum, from Lozier, Texas, is not certainly identifiable to subspecies. If, as I think, the animal is a female, its skull is intermediate between that of _frenata_ and _neomexicana_ although when all features are considered it is seen to be nearest the latter. The large size (basilar length of 46.5 mm.) may reflect some relationship to _texensis_. The field notes of the collector furnished me by Dr. H. H. T. Jackson (MS), describe the color as brownish yellow above and sulphur below. The admission of this subspecies to the list of mammals of Texas is made certain by the female (no. 1572, Texas Cooperative Research Collection) taken on July 28, 1940, 1-1/2 mi. NW Kent, Texas, by C. E. Scull.

The skull alone from Durango (City of), extends the known range far to the south. This skull is typical of _neomexicana_. Skins from the same place would be especially interesting as showing the approach, if any, in color, of _neomexicana_ to _M. f. leucoparia_.

Mr. D. D. Stone of Casa Grande, Arizona, writes, under date of February 2, 1927, that a weasel was seen by an acquaintance of his in a field near Chandler, Maricopa County, Arizona. Probably this was _neomexicana_. If so, its range extends much farther west than collected specimens show.

Actual intergradation with _M. f. frenata_ is not shown by the material at hand. The two females from Albuquerque, although typically _neomexicana_ as regards color, have smaller, less prominently ridged skulls than females of _neomexicana_ of the same age from farther south and approach _M. f. nevadensis_.

Probably the geographic ranges of _M. f. neomexicana_ and _M. f. latirostra_ do not meet; the only evidence of the existence of weasels in all of the large area, comprising western Arizona and the deserts of eastern California, which intervenes between the ranges of the two subspecies is the skull of a young individual, no. 68842, Mus. Vert. Zoöl., from 10 miles northeast of Bard, Imperial County, California. There, on December 29, 1932, Jack C. vonBloeker, Jr., retrieved the weathered skull with some of the vertebrae attached, from the top of a wood rat's nest beneath a mesquite tree near the west bank of the Colorado River.

The idea that the carcass may have been washed down the river from far upstream gains no support from a comparison of the specimen itself for the tympanic bullae are larger than in _nevadensis_ and the skull is larger than the largest males seen of _arizonensis_, the two upriver races. On the basis of size the skull could be either a male of _latirostra_ or a female of _neomexicana_. These two subspecies, like _arizonensis_ and the skull in question, have much inflated bullae. However, the immaturity of the specimen conceals any other diagnostic cranial features, and prevents referring it certainly to either _neomexicana_ or _latirostra_. In any event the specimen provides no evidence of intergradation between the two forms last mentioned. Speculating on its identity, I should say that it might be either an intergrade between _arizonensis_ and _nevadensis_, from southern Utah or northwestern Arizona, or a member of an unnamed race resident in the lower part of the valley of the Colorado River.

Whereas _M. f. panamensis_ and _M. f. aureoventris_ are the darkest-colored weasels and occur in regions of heavy rainfall, _M. f. neomexicana_ is the lightest-colored American weasel and occurs in an extremely arid region where the rainfall and humidity are slight.

According to Barber and Cockerell (1898:189) "The type specimen was shot in the grass on the shore of Armstrong's Lake. . . ." Bailey (1928:97) found the tracks of one of these animals "in the great pit at the west entrance to" Carlsbad Cavern and supposes they "hunt the cave walls for mice and other small game." Data on the label attached to no. 230973 states that the specimen was taken, two miles west of Willcox, Arizona, in a prairie dog town.

Only two of the 23 skulls show evidence of infestation of the frontal sinuses by parasites.

_Specimens examined._--Total number, 28, arranged alphabetically by states and from north to south by counties in each state. Unless otherwise indicated specimens are in the United States National Museum.

=Arizona.= _Graham County_: Safford, 1. _Cochise County_: 2 mi. W Willcox, 1; Willcox, 1; 8000 ft., Chiricahua Mts., 1; 6000 ft., Pinery Canyon, Chiricahua Mts., 1[33]; Tombstone, 1; Sulphur Spring Valley, 1[74].

=Durango.= "Durango City," 1.

=Kansas.= _Seward County_: Liberal, 1[93].

=New Mexico.= _Bernalillo County_: 3 mi. NW Albuquerque, 2. _Lincoln County_: 7800 ft., South Fork Eagle Creek, White Mts., 1. _Chaves County_: Pecos River, 10 mi. E Roswell, 8[74]; Dexter, 1[74]. _Otero County_: Cloudcroft, 9000 ft., 1[90]. _Dona Ana County_: Mesilla Park, 2 (1[75], 1[7]); Berino, 2.

=Texas.= _Culberson County_: 1-1/2 mi. NW Kent, 1[90]. _Terrel County_: Lozier, 1.

=Mustela frenata texensis= Hall

Long-tailed Weasel

Plates 22, 23 and 24

_Mustela frenata texensis_ Hall, Carnegie Instit. Washington Publ. 473:99, November 20, 1936.

_Mustela frenata_, Strecker, The Baylor Bull., 27:14, September, 1924.

_Mustela frenata frenata_, Strecker, The Baylor Bull., 27:12, August, 1926 (part).

_Type._--Male, adult, skull with skin of head, neck and tail; no. 14821, Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.; Kerr County, Texas; September 17, 1897; obtained by H. P. Attwater.

The skull (plates 22-24) and dentition are complete and unbroken. The preserved parts of the skin are not stuffed.

_Range._--Lower Sonoran and possibly Upper Sonoran life-zones of central Texas. See figure 29 on page 221.

_Characters for ready recognition._--Differs from _Mustela frenata arthuri_ in possessing white facial markings and postorbital breadth less than distance between posterior borders of P4 and P2; from _M. f. frenata_ in larger size of body and skull, the basilar length of which in adult males is more than 52.5; from _M. f. neomexicana_ in Brussels Brown rather than Buckthorn Brown color of upper parts and basilar length of skull more than 52.5.

_Description._--_Size._--Male: Measurements taken from the dried skins of a young male, no. 15476, Mus. Comp. Zoöl., from Kerr County, Texas, and a subadult male, no. 2017, Baylor Univ. Mus., from 5 mi. N Waco, Texas, are, respectively, as follows: Total length, 600 and more than 510; length of tail, 200 and 225; length of hind foot, 52 and 52.

Female: Skins unknown.

_Externals._--As described in _Mustela frenata frenata_.

_Color._--As described in _Mustela frenata frenata_.

_Skull and teeth._--Adult male: See measurements and plates 22-24. As described in _Mustela frenata frenata_ except that: Weight, 8 grams; basilar length 54; least width of palate less than length of P4; anterior margin of masseteric fossa anterior to middle of m2.

Female: Skull unknown.

_Remarks._--The type specimen, taken by the veteran collector of Texan mammals, H. P. Attwater, appears to have been the first one of these animals to find its way into the collection of any museum or naturalist. The second specimen from Kerr County was secured by, or through, the well-known commercial collector, F. B. Armstrong. Two trade skins, from Kerr County, taken on December 10, 1938, are in the Texas Cooperative Research Collection, as is also the skeleton of a young animal from Fredericksburg. The two other specimens from McLennan County (both males contrary to the statement of Strecker, 1924:14), owe their preservation to the alertness of John K. Strecker, Curator of the Baylor University Museum, who has given a complete account of their history.

The range of this subspecies is thought to include much of central Texas.

The preserved parts of the skin of the type specimen show it to have been generally large. The part of the tail preserved measures 226 millimeters and the skin of the head and neck is correspondingly large. The skin alone, no. 427, from near Waco, Texas, has, as now stuffed, a body 365 millimeters long. Individuals of this race attain larger size than those of any other American member of the subgenus _Mustela_ with the possible exception of _Mustela frenata macrophonius_ from Veracruz, México. In addition to large size, _texensis_ and _macrophonius_ are analogous in that each has a small geographic range at the northern end of an extensive range of its similarly colored southern relative from which it differs mainly in size. Each of the two groups, _goldmani_ and _macrophonius_ on the one hand and _perotae_, _frenata_ and _texensis_ on the other, has relatively uniform color, color pattern and body proportions over a large region but at its northern extremity develops a "giant" population, _M. f. macrophonius_ and _M. f. texensis_, respectively. The skull of the type specimen of _M. f. texensis_ is the largest one seen of any American weasel. The type specimen of _M. f. macrophonius_ has a basilar length that is greater by one-tenth of a millimeter but in every other measurement taken the skull of _M. f. texensis_ is the larger. Its weight, 8 grams, also shows it to be larger.

The broad, white bands in front of the ears are confluent with the white patch between the eyes on both sides in two specimens and on one side only in one other specimen. A white patch between the ears is present in four specimens. The dark spot at each angle of the mouth is absent on both sides in four specimens and on one side only in one other specimen. Thus out of a possible twelve cases, the broad bands in front of the ears are confluent with the spot between the eyes in five cases. Four of the six specimens have a white spot between the ears. The dark spot at each angle of the mouth is present three out of a possible twelve times.

The skull of no. 2017, from five miles north of Waco, is smaller than either of the two skulls seen from Kerr County and in this respect approaches _M. f. frenata_. There is no actual evidence of intergradation with any other subspecies but intergradation probably does take place with _M. f. neomexicana_ and possibly with _M. f. arthuri_ and _M. f. primulina_.

Strecker (1924:14) remarks that of the two specimens obtained near Waco, one was taken in a trap baited for mink and the other was shot in a hen house. None of the four skulls had the frontal sinuses infested with parasites.

_Specimens examined._--Total number, 7, arranged by counties from north to south.

=Texas.= _McLennan County_: 5 mi. N Waco, 1[3]; Erath, 1[3]. _Gillespie County_: Fredericksburg, 1[90]. _Kerr County_: 4[75]; 1[2]; and 2[90] trade skins.

=Mustela frenata frenata= Lichtenstein

Long-tailed Weasel

Plates 1, 22, 23, 24, 36, 37, 38 and 40

_Mustela frenata_ Lichtenstein, Darstellung neuer oder wenig bekannter Säugethier, 1832, pl. 42, and corresponding text, unpaged; Seton, Lives of game animals, 2:576, 1929.

_Mustela brasiliensis_ Sevastianoff, Mem. de l'Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersburg, 4:356-363, tab. 4, 1813, name on plate only, the description being in the text (not of Gmelin, 1788); Gray, Proc. Zoöl. Soc. London, 1865:114.

_Putorius frenatus_, Baird Mamms. N. Amer., p. 173, 1858; Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, 11:26, pl. 3, figs. 1, 1a, 1b, June 30, 1896; Bailey, N. Amer. Fauna, 25:198, October 24, 1905.

_Putorius (Gale) brasiliensis aequatorialis_ Coues, Fur-bearing animals, p. 142, 1877, part? ("merely as a substitute for Gray's [supposedly] preoccupied name" that is, _aureoventris_).

_Putorius (Gale) brasiliensis frenatus_, Coues, Fur-bearing animals, p. 142, 1877 (part).

_Putorius mexicanus_ Coues, Fur-bearing animals, p. 142, 1877, [_nomen nudum_, cited by Coues in synonymy as "_Putorius mexicanus_, Berlandier, MSS. ic. ined. 4 (Tamaulipas and Matamoros)"].

_Putorius brasiliensis frenata_, Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 3:219, April 17, 1891.

_Putorius brasiliensis frenatus_, Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 6:197, May 31, 1894; Bangs, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 10:9, February 25, 1896; Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 8:74, April 22, 1896.

_Mustela frenata frenata_, Strecker, The Baylor Bull., 27:12, August, 1926; Hall, Carnegie Instit. Washington Publ. 473:108, November 20, 1936.

_Type._--Female, adult, skull and skin; no. 991, Berlin Zool. Mus., México City, México; June, 1829; obtained by F. Deppe.

The specimen once mounted, now is remade into a study skin and lacks the distal part of the tail. The skull (plates 36-38, 40) lacks the basicranial region.

_Range._--Altitudinally, sea level (Brownsville, Texas) to 7600 feet (Tlalpam, México); from southern Texas as far south as México City; Lower Sonoran to at least Transition life-zone. See figure 29 on page 221.

_Characters for ready recognition._--Differs from _M. f. perotae_ in nonextension of blackish over anterior fourth of neck, least width of color of underparts more than 37 per cent of greatest width of color of upper parts; height of tympanic bulla more than distance from its anterior margin to foramen ovale; from _M. f. leucoparia_ by restricted white facial markings that cover less than half surface of head in front of ears, by nonextension of black of head onto anterior half of neck and by wider (more than 7.8) tympanic bullae; from _M. f. neomexicana_ by Brussels Brown rather than Buckthorn Brown color of upper parts and mastoid breadth less than postpalatal length; from _M. f. texensis_ by smaller size of body and skull (basilar length in adult males less than 52.5); from _M. f. arthuri_ by white facial markings and postorbital breadth less than distance between posterior borders of P4 and P2; from _M. f. tropicalis_ by nonextension of blackish over anterior fourth of neck, least width of underparts more than 37 per cent of greatest width of upper parts, postorbital breadth of adult males less than distance between posterior borders of P4 and P2.

_Description._--_Size._--Male: Fifteen adults and subadults from Brownsville, Texas, yield average and extreme measurements as follows: Total length, 485 (430-556); length of tail, 202 (165-250); length of hind foot, 48 (40-55). Averages believed to be reliable but extremes probably are not. Tail averages 71 per cent as long as head and body. Length of hind foot less than basal length. Corresponding measurements of an adult male (topotype, no. 50826) from Tlalpam, México, are: 505, 203, 53. Another adult male, from Miquihuana, Tamaulipas, México, measures: 520, 215, 52.

Female: Six adults, subadults and young from Brownsville, Texas, yield average and extreme measurements as follows: Total length, 420 (362-456); length of tail, 173 (126-200); length of hind foot, 41 (40-46). Tail averages 70 per cent as long as head and body. Length of hind foot more (with possible exception of no. 36362/48732 U. S. Nat. Mus.) than basal length.

The average differences in external measurements of the two sexes are: Total length, 65; length of tail, 29; length of hind foot, 7.

_Externals._--Longest facial vibrissae black and reaching beyond ear; carpal vibrissae same color as underparts and extending to apical pad of fifth digit; hairiness of foot-soles as shown in figure 20.

_Color._--Spot between eyes, broad band, confluent with color of underparts, on each side of head extending anterodorsally anterior to each ear, and posterior two-thirds to one-half of each upper lip, white; remainder of sides and top of head, posteriorly to line connecting posterior margins of ears, blackish; dark spot posterior to angle of mouth present on both sides in about half the specimens; tip of tail black; remainder of upper parts Brussels Brown; chin white; remainder of underparts near (16´_a_) Ochraceous-Buff (same color in juveniles and young), which color extends distally on posterior sides of forelegs over forefeet and on medial sides of hind legs to feet and sometimes onto upper sides of toes. Least width of color of underparts averaging, in a series of seventeen males from Brownsville, Texas, 47 (extremes 38-53) per cent of greatest width of color of upper parts. Black tip of tail, in same series, averaging 49 (extremes 40-55) mm. long, thus about equal to length of hind foot and averaging 24 per cent of length of tail-vertebrae.

_Skull and teeth._--Male (based on ten adults from Brownsville): See measurements and plates 22-24; weight (three adults, one topotype and two from Brownsville, Texas), 6.2 (5.3-7.2) grams; basilar length, 49.8 (48.2-51.3); zygomatic breadth more than distance between condylar foramen and M1 or than between anterior palatine foramen and anterior margin of tympanic bulla; mastoidal breadth less than postpalatal length; postorbital breadth less than length of upper premolars (less than distance between posterior borders of P4 and P2) and not greater (usually less) than width of basioccipital measured from medial margin of one foramen lacerum posterior to its opposite; interorbital breadth not greater than distance between foramen opticum and anterior margin of tympanic bulla; breadth of rostrum less than length of tympanic bulla; least width of palate more or less than length of P4; anterior margin of tympanic bulla as far posterior to foramen ovale as width of 3 or 4 (including I3) upper incisors; height of tympanic bulla more than distance from its anterior margin to foramen ovale; length of tympanic bulla more than length of lower molar and premolar tooth-row and longer or shorter (usually longer) than rostrum; anterior margin of masseteric fossa just behind m2.

Female (based on two adults from Brownsville, Texas): See measurements and plates 36-38, 40; weight, 3.4 (3.3-3.5) grams; basilar length (six, adult to young) 43.3 (41.3-47.3); zygomatic breadth more or less than distance between condylar foramen and M1 and more than distance between anterior palatine foramen and anterior margin of tympanic bulla; postorbital breadth less than length of upper premolars and more or less than (about equal to) width of basioccipital measured from medial margin of one foramen lacerum posterior to its opposite; least width of palate less than outside length of P4; tympanic bulla as far posterior to foramen ovale as width of 2 to 3-1/2 (including I3) upper incisors; height of tympanic bulla more than distance from its anterior margin to foramen ovale; length of tympanic bulla more than length of lower molar and premolar tooth-row and longer or shorter than rostrum.

The skull of the female averages 45 per cent lighter than that of the average male.

Comparison of the skull with those of _M. f. arthuri_, _tropicalis_, _perotae_, _leucoparia_ and _neomexicana_ has been made in accounts of those subspecies. As compared with _M. f. texensis_ (known only from males), the only difference detected is smaller size.

_Remarks._--As Merriam (1896:27) has said: "In 1813 a Russian naturalist, Sevastianoff, gave the name '_Mustela brasiliensis_' to a weasel brought to St. Petersburg by Capt. A. J. Krusenstern on his return from a voyage around the world. The animal was said to have come from Brazil, but no definite locality was given." This name was long applied by many European naturalists to American weasels which had white facial markings, and several American naturalists adopted the name. However, Lichtenstein in 1832 applied the name _Mustela frenata_ to the weasels of the vicinity of México City and that name was used for bridled weasels from México and the southwestern United States by most subsequent German writers and by several Americans. In 1896 Merriam (1896:27) showed that Sevastianoff's _Mustela brasiliensis_, 1813, although probably the same as _Mustela frenata_, was preoccupied by Gmelin's _Mustela brasiliensis_, 1788, applied to an otter and that Lichtenstein's name must be used as the next available one. Since that time, 1896, _frenata_ has been the name applied to the large bridled-weasels of Texas and the high table land of México south to México City. It may be added that in 1937 search by the writer among the specimens and records at the Russian Academy of Sciences, in Leningrad, failed to reveal any trace of the type specimen of Sevastianoff's _Mustela brasiliensis_.

The geographic range of this subspecies is relatively large and, as might therefore be expected, specimens show geographic variation. The specimens from Tlalpam, which Merriam (_op. cit._:27) regards as topotypes, differ in certain respects from specimens from Texas. The skull of the adult male "topotype," no. 50826, differs from any other adult male seen in that the basilar length, the length of the upper tooth-rows, the orbitonasal length, the ratio of the same to the basilar length, the mastoidal breadth, the zygomatic breadth, the depth of the skull at the posterior margins of the upper molars, and the length and breadth of M1, are greater. The height of the tympanic bullae is less than the average height for these structures in more northern specimens. The specimens from Tlalpam have also larger external measurements than the average of more northern specimens. All of these features show an approach to the subspecies of more southern distribution. On the other hand, the blackish of the head is not more intense or more extended posteriorly onto the neck than in specimens from Brownsville, Texas. The skin, with skull crushed, no. 767, in the Paris Museum, from 3200 meters elevation near Toluca, does have the black color of the head extended 30 millimeters posteriorly to the ears. In this feature, and also in the extensively white face on which the white bar in front of each ear connects with the frontal spot, as well as with the color of the underparts, the specimen resembles _leucoparia_. Better material from the western part of the state of México may show the range of _leucoparia_ to extend eastward almost or quite to Toluca.