Next, the specimens of one species were arranged in trays in a
geographic sequence. The specimens from any one locality were
segregated by sex and under one sex from one place were arranged from
oldest to youngest, that is to say by age. The four series with the
largest numbers of individuals of a given age were selected. Seventeen
cranial measurements and three external measurements were recorded for
each individual of each of these four series. For each measurement, the
coefficient of variation, standard deviation and probable error were
computed. The four samples subjected to such analysis were a series of
adult males, one of adult females, one of subadult males and one of
subadult females. Also, studies of each sex were made to ascertain
seasonal changes in pelage. After data were obtained on ontogenetic
(age) variation, secondary sexual variation, seasonal variation, and
degree of individual variation by studying specimens in the manner
described above, tests were made for subspecific (geographic) variation
by comparing series of specimens of like sex, age and season, from
different localities. For each one of several geographically variable
features noted, a map was prepared for animals of each sex. When all
the data thus obtained were codified, subspecific ranges were, in a
sense automatically, obtained. On the resulting map showing geographic
ranges of subspecies for a species, a type locality was accurately
plotted for each name that had been applied to the species, and names
then were applied in accordance with the international rules of
zoölogical nomenclature.
VARIATION
Variation with Age
The kind of variation which results from increasing age has been dealt
with extensively for the skull (of the Old World _Mustela erminea_) by
Hensel (1881) and for the external features and to some extent for the
skull by Hamilton (1933) in the North American forms _M. erminea
cicognanii_ and _M. frenata noveboracensis_.
The young of both _erminea_ and _frenata_ are hairless and blind at
birth. In _M. frenata noveboracensis_, the eyes open on approximately
the 37th day. When 2 to 4 months old, the tail is pointed at the tip.
This is because the terminal hair of the tail, including the black tip,
is short and lies flat on the tail. In subadults and adults the hair on
the terminal part of the tail is as long as that on the basal part, and
the tail appears to be of uniform diameter all the way out to the end.
In the western subspecies of _M. frenata_, and in its tropical
subspecies, animals so young as to have pointed tails commonly have the
underparts of the body more intensely colored than do adults. The young
may have salmon-colored instead of yellowish fur on the underparts.
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