THE fur merchants of Canada have long been acquainted with the name of pekan, without any knowledge of the animal to which it belongs. Naturalists have not even mentioned its name; and travellers have employed it to denote different animals, particularly stinkards, so that it was impossible to derive any precise knowledge of it from their erroneous remarks. The origin of the name of the vison is no less difficult to be traced than that of the pekan, and it is only said that they belong to two different animals of America. M. Aubry, in his cabinet, has two animals under this denomination, and from which, by his indulgence, we have been enabled to give a sketch of their figures, and the following description:
The pekan ([fig. 189.]) so strongly resembles the marten, and the vison ([fig. 190.]) the pole-cat, that we are inclined to consider them as varieties of those two species. They are of the same make and proportion, have the same length of tail, quality of hair, and number of teeth and claws; from which facts there is certainly sufficient reason to conclude that they are merely varieties, or at least as species approaching so near each other, that it is difficult to point out any real difference, except that the hair of the pekan and the vison is more soft, brown, and glossy, than that of the marten and pole-cat; but this difference is common to them as well as to the beaver, otter, and other animals of North America, whose fur is more beautiful than those of the same kind of animals in the north of Europe.