_Mustela campestris_ Jackson, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 26:124,
May 21, 1913.
_Putorius pusillus_, Aughey, Sketches of the physical geography and
geology of Nebraska, p. 119, 1880, Omaha.
_Mustela rixosa campestris_, Swenk, Journ. Mamm., 7:329, Nov. 23,
1926.
_Type._--Female, adult, skin and skull; no. 171490, U. S. Nat.
Mus., Biol. Surv. Coll.; Beemer, Cuming County, Nebraska; April
18, 1911; obtained by G. Sharp; x catalogue no. 8440.
The skull is unbroken. On the left side, C1 and P2 are missing;
the other teeth are present and entire. The skin is excellently
made and in a good state of preservation.
_Range._--South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa. See figure 28 on page
180.
_Characters for ready recognition._--Differs from _M. r. rixosa_
and _M. r. allegheniensis_ in larger size: Hind foot more than 25
in males and ordinarily more than 22 in females; in males total
length more than 216 and tail averaging more than 34; color
possibly slightly paler than in _M. r. rixosa_ and averaging paler
than in _M. r. allegheniensis_; from _M. frenata_ and _M. erminea_
of the same region by basilar length less than 32; tail less than
50, and lacking black pencil.
_Description._--_Size._--Male: Four adults from Nebraska yield
average and extreme measurements as follows: Total length, 231
(225-237); length of tail, 36 (32-39); length of hind foot, 29
(28-31).
Female: Six adults from Nebraska yield average and extreme
measurements as follows: Total length, 192 (184-225); length of
tail, 35 (28-40); length of hind foot, 23 (20.5-26).
_Color._--Winter pelage ordinarily white; as described in _M. r.
eskimo_ except possibly paler and certainly with line of
demarcation on side of head between upper parts and underparts
passing almost straight back without the dorsally directed
reëntrant angles of white behind the eye and ear; least width of
color of underparts in four specimens from Nebraska averaging 80
(49-89) per cent of greatest width of color of upper parts, but in
a fifth animal in summer pelage the brown color of the upper parts
encircles the body.
_Skull._--See measurements in table and plate 15; weight 1.1 grams
(male from Brown Co., S. D.); basilar length, 30.7 in male from
Clay Co., Neb., and 28.8 in female from same county; otherwise as
described in _M. e. richardsonii_.
_Remarks._--In his revisionary treatment of the American races of
_Mustela rixosa_, Myron H. Swenk (1926:313) credits Samuel Aughey with
recording this animal, _M. r. campestris_, from Nebraska, as early as
1880, under the name _Putorius pusillus_. In 1908, Swenk recorded the
animal from the same state under the name _rixosus_ and in 1913 the
race _campestris_ was formally named by H. H. T. Jackson.
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