| | | (14) | | | 20 +---------+---------+--------- | | | (14) | | | 21 +---------+---------+--------- | | | (7) | | | 22 +---------+---------+--------- | | | (1) | | | 23 -------------------+---------+---------+--------- Variation according to the species is evident in the number of caudal vertebrae, but in the other categories of vertebrae no consistent difference in number according to species was found in the material examined. Apparently there is also some geographic variation in the number of caudal vertebrae within a species. For example, the one skeleton seen of _Mustela rixosa eskimo_ (no. 219036, U. S. Nat. Mus., from St. Michaels, Alaska) has only 11 caudal vertebrae, whereas in the 11 _Mustela rixosa rixosa_ from Roseau County, Minnesota, the usual number is 15 with extremes of 14 and 16. Similarly specimens of _Mustela frenata_ from Idaho and California almost always have 1 or 2 more caudal vertebrae than do individuals of the shorter-tailed subspecies of the same species from eastern Kansas. Of the vertebrae, only the cervicals, of which there are 7, were found to be constant in number. In _M. erminea_, two of the seven individuals in which the anticlinal vertebra was the 12th (instead of the 11th) had 15 instead of the customary 14 thoracic vertebrae. In _M. frenata_, seven of the twenty-seven individuals in which the anticlinal vertebra was the 12th (instead of the 11th) had 15 instead of 14 thoracic vertebrae. The one _M. erminea_ with a pseudosacral vertebra had only two instead of the customary 3 sacral vertebrae but the same individual had 15 thoracic vertebrae. Of the six _M. frenata_ with a pseudosacral vertebra, two animals had only two instead of three sacral vertebrae. Conceivably, therefore, the pseudosacral vertebra in each of the three instances mentioned may represent merely an unfused sacral vertebra, instead of a true pseudosacral as occurs in four individuals of _M. frenata_. TEETH In American weasels, for example in _Mustela frenata_, the permanent dentition normally is I 3 C 1 P 3 M 1 -, -, -, -, -, -, -, - or 34 teeth in all. In most respects the i 3 c 1 p 3 m 2