I was privately asked if there were any published accounts that could be cited to support the use of the species name Mustela furo to describe the domestic ferret. I thought most of you might like the info as well. Off the top of my head are two; Walton (1977) "Polecat. Ferret." In: The Handbook of British Mammals, 2nd ed., edited by G. B. Corbet and H. N. Southern. Also, Corbet and Hill (1980) A World List of Mammalian Species, is another. There are others which I will post at a later date when I get through writing the bibliography for my paper. A major problem I have faced (and considerably slowing the paper down, I might add) is the multinationality of references concerning the exact speciation and taxonomy of the domestic ferret. I can read several languages, but so far have received original articles in Scandinavian, English, Russian, Polish, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, French, German, and Romanian. Some of the references are grey papers; that is, papers presented at conferences, or unpublished university reports. Many, especially those from ex-eastern block countries, are very difficult to obtain if not impossible. Some other trivia. Mustela putorius is apparently immune to the poison of the Adder (Vipera berus), and resistant to strychnine poisoning. Predators of Mustela putorius include man, domestic dogs, red fox, golden eagles, larger owls, and automobiles (cars account for greater than 86% mortality of wild populations in Europe and higher in Wales). As far as I can tell, there is no published account of wild felids sucessfully preying on Mustela putorius. Dogs only seem successful when in packs. One reference from 1847 by Buffon, described dogs fleeing from polecats. Of the witnessed attacks on polecats, hybrids, and feral fitch, the chief method of defense was (you guessed it) biting the nose, hanging on, and shaking. Some anti-ferret history: Chaucer (14th cent.) wanted to poison a polecat or ferret in "The Pardoner's Tale." Elizabeth I (1566, 1572) offered a bounty for dead polecats and ferrets, and payments were recorded in many churchwarden's and estate accounts. (4d to 2/6d for adults and 1/3d for kits). Good guys include Portugal, which protects Mustela putorius, and Britain which outlawed all trapping in 1981 (they still can be hunted with guns, however). And Queen Victoria (1870s) was reported to love the beasties. Aristophanes (about 450 BC) described thieves as "ferrets" in his play "The Acheans." Aristotle is credited with the first description of the domestic ferret, about 350 BC, but controversy exists over the translation of 'ictis'; some say he was describing a polecat. The Bible (Leviticus 11:29-30) forbids the eating of ferrets. About 2000-years-ago the use of ferrets to hunt rabbits was described by Strabo and Pliny. (I have heard reports that a ferret was drawn on an Egyptian heiroglyphic, but have not been able to confirm it. Anyone know the original source?) In 1667 Merret named the animal the ferret. Ray (1693) first scientifically described the ferret, naming it "Mustela sylvestris," but Linnaeus (1758) renamed it Mustela furo. Since then it has been known as Putorius putorius, Putorius furo, Putorius putorius furo, and Mustela putorius furo. I have lately been in contact with several paleobiologists that specialize in mustelids, and (so far) none have been able to answer questions concerning the ferret's species of origin. One archaeologist has a 1100 year sequence of bones from the German-France area, and has offerred them for use if I will identify all of them. I might take him up on that, because I think I will find ferret skulls. One major problem is a lack of comparative material. (To prove you have ferrets, you need skeletons and skulls of ferrets to compare with, something in short supply in the USA, and not something you can just ASK for [Excuse me, when you are through with that ferret, might I have the bones? JUST A JOKE!]). I doubt if I could get a grant to go and visit European collections, so that avenue will have to wait for later. In short; less evidence than against OJ. Mustela more in the next post. BTW, I'm a little behind in the nickname list; because of that wacky person sending so many nasty e-mails, I lost lots of stuff from my mailbox. So, I am going through the last few months of FML to make sure I get them all. If you don't see your nickname, I'll revise the list. If you don't get a SPECIAL CERTIFICATE in about 10 days, ask for one--I might have lost your address. Bob and the 13 Hob-along Jill-sters on the TCA cycle from HELL [Posted in FML issue 1410]