OCR Text |
Show 470 MR. E . R. ALSTON ON THE BRITISH MARTENS. [June 3, the upper molar is broad; its inner cusp smaller, and placed more diagonally than in M. sylvatica. Upper molar subquadrate, its flattened inner portion hardly longer or larger than the outer part, in which the external and anterior tubercles are placed close together, the external outline of the tooth being distinctly emarginated between them and the posterior tubercle. First lower molar with a well-developed inner tubercle at the base of the main cusp. Fig.l. Skull of M. foina. As Blasius has remarked, the differences of proportion are less conspicuous when a skull of an aged example of 31. foina is compared with that of a young M. sylvatica than when individuals of the same age are contrasted ; nevertheless they are always present to an appreciable degree. In his figures Blasius has represented a further distinction, in the form of the transverse ridges of the soft palate; but I have not had an opportunity of testing the constancy of this feature; nor have I sufficient materials for any original observations on the distinctive marks of the American and Siberian Martens, as to which I can only refer the reader to the descriptions of Drs. Coues* and Middendorff2. On the whole it m a y be said 1 Fur-bearing Animals, pp. 59-96, pis. ii., iv. 2 Reise in Sibir., ii. Th, ii. pp. 68, 69, pi. ii. figs. 1-6. |