MUSTELIDAL, a family of small carniv orous mammals classified between the dogs and the bears, and traceable in geological history back to early Eocene time. The special charac teristic of the family is the reduction of the mo lar teeth in the upper jaw to a single one. The dentition in general resembles that of the cats. The family is divisible into five subfamilies: Weasels ( Mustelina), otters ( Lutrina), badgers (Melina), skunks (Mephitina) and sea otters (Enhydrinte) and thus include the ermine, mink, fisher, sable, marten, polecat and wolverine. The habitat is worldwide outside of Australasia and Mada gascar, but it is in the subarctic and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere that the Mustelida are most numerous and produce the most valuable pelts. The sea otter and the skunks are exclusively American. All are small animals, the largest (the sea otter and the wolverine) being about three feet long. They are characterized by strength, nimbleness and especially bloodthirstiness, and in general have slender bodies, rather short legs, round heads, powerful jaws and strong teeth. They
possess anal glands which in some genera, as the skunks, are highly developed, enabling them to discharge at will, as a means of defense, an acrid, malodorous fluid. Some of the Mus telida are arboreal, but most are terrestrial, living in burrows. Their food consists of small mammals, birds, birds' eggs, crustaceans, fish and insects. Their lust for killing seems to bear no relation to their food requirements; for example, a mink, gaining access to a chicken house, is likely to kill as many fowls as it can seize. The trapping and hunting of the Mustelida has long been an important in dustry in both Europe and North America. Consult Coues, E., 'Fur-Bearing Animals) (Washington 1877); Ingersoll, E., 'Life of Mammals) (New York 1909).
MUT, moot, in Egyptian mythology, a god dess of heaven and queen of earth, the wife of Ammon and the mother of Chons. Her name signifies "mother."