On a peculiarly colored Stoat in the collections of the Leyden Museum

The Stoat, Putorius erminea (Linne), has a differently colored summer- and winter-dress: its lower parts, margins of the ears and feet, however, constantly are of a whitish or yellowish white color and the terminal part of its tail remains black in all seasons. In winter in our temperate climate its coat sometimes is mottled with brown, but in severe winters it becomes entirely white: the more farther north the white is purer: in southern Europe and Asia it is brown the whole year all round. In our collection 1) is a rather complete series of individuals procured in different months, all from the environs of Leyden: this series shows very clearly the way by which the stoat turns white in winter and again brown in summer.