I would like to write an article for the newsletter of our local shelter on the history of the domestic ferret. I have been trying to find documentation on when they were first domesticated, when they were first used as companion animals, and their phylogenetic ancestry. I have not been able to find very satisfying published material. I would especially like to find a phylogenetic family tree of the Mustelidae. In the material I have found there has been reference to "fitch" ferrets in different contexts. Does this term refer to a "breed" of ferret [one publication I read refers to them as simply "fitch (or sable) ferrets" as if all sable ferrets are "fitch" ferrets] , the European polecat, a hybrid between the domestic ferret and the European polecat, a line of ferrets that have been trained to hunt rodents and rabbits, or what? I need full bibliographic references please. Thanks much! [Posted in FML issue 1167]