1818. =africana= (_Mustela_) Desmarest [= _Mustela africana africana_], Nouv. Diction, d. Hist. Nat., 19:376. In 1808 E. Geoffroy St.-Hilaire visited Portugal and was given several African primates and the specimen of _Mustela_ named by Desmarest in 1818 who wrongly supposed that it, like most of the primates, came originally from Africa. After the name had been misapplied for 95 years Angel Cabrera showed that it pertained instead to the tropical weasel of Brazil. Of distinctive names applied to American weasels today, this is the one first proposed.
1832. =frenata= (_Mustela_) Lichtenstein [= _Mustela frenata frenata_], Darstellung neuer oder wenig bekannter Säugethiere, pl. 42 and corresponding text unpaged. This name is the first one available for the long-tailed weasel and therefore applies to the species as a whole.
1838. =Cicognanii= (_Mustela_) Bonaparte [= _Mustela erminea cicognanii_], Charlesworth's Mag. Nat. Hist., 2:38. The name erroneously spelled _Cigognanii_ was correctly spelled on page 39. For a detailed consideration of this name see the account of the subspecies _cicognanii_ on page 120.
1838. =Richardsonii= (_Mustela_) Bonaparte [= _Mustela erminea richardsonii_], Charlesworth's Mag. Nat. Hist., 2:39. Until 1896 the name sometimes was applied to the subspecies now known as _M. e. arctica_ and sometimes to part of the subspecies now designated as _M. e. cicognanii_ under the principal treatment of which see (page 120) for a detailed account of the basis of the name _=richardsonii=_, and the reasons for regarding Fort Franklin as the type locality.
1838. =longicauda= (_Mustela_) Bonaparte [= _=Mustela frenata longicauda=_], Charlesworth's Mag. Nat. Hist., 2:39. The type locality appears to be Carlton House, Saskatchewan, and the name always seems to have been applied to the long-tailed weasel of the Great Plains, although in some earlier accounts the name was used in a more inclusive sense to refer also to animals now of subspecies closely allied to _longicauda_. As with the two preceding names, a detailed consideration of the basis for, and application of, this name is given on pages 120-123 in the account of _Mustela erminea cicognanii_.
1840. =Noveboracensis= (_Putorius_) Emmons [= _Mustela frenata noveboracensis_], Quadrupeds of Mass., p. 45. This name was credited by Emmons to De Kay who in the same year published it in his report on the "Zoology of New York" but without a description and De Kay's name is a _nomen nudum_. Emmons' was the first use of the name accompanied by a recognizable description and therefore the name must date from Emmons although this obviously was not his intent since he credited the name to De Kay.