ERMIN, in heraldry, is always argent and sable, that is, a white field, or fur, with black spots. These spots are not of any determinate number, but may be more or less, at the pleasure of the painter, as the skins are thought not to be naturally so spotted; but serving for lining the garments of great persons, the furriers were wont, in order to add to their beauty, to few bits of the black tails of the creatures that produced them, upon the white of their skin, to render them the more conspicuous, which alteration was introduced into armory. See Plate LXXIV. fig. 7.