APPENDIX. II 



Page 291. 

 GENUS VIVERRA. 



"Vulpecula Weasel or Squash Viverra vulpecula." Founded on the 

 << Yzquiepatl" of Hernandez (N. Hist. Mex. 1651, 332.) and, as Ord uses it, 

 was so named first by Erxleben (Reg. Anim. , 1777, 490.) who quotes 

 Schreber. The plates of Hernandez and Schreber (after Buffon) indicate 

 a brown, Mink-like animal. The same animal (after Hernandez) was 

 made by Linnaeus the original of his Viverra memphitis, (Syst. Nat., 

 1758, 44), though his description tallies imperfectly with that of Hernan- 

 dez. There is little doubt that both described from hearsay of different 

 species, combining interchangeably the habits of a Skunk with the colors 

 of no known member of the Mephitide. The V. vulpecula of Erxleben 

 and Schreber is, in part, a synonym of the V. memphitis of Linnaeus. 

 Squash is derived from Quasie, an Indian name applied to the Coati, 

 Nausa rufa, on which in part, the V. vulpecula of Schreber is founded. 

 The Quasje was said to have a fetid odor, hence, memphilis Linn. (?). 

 See however, (infra) that the Mexican weasel was also called Squash. 



"Mexican Weasel Viverra prehensilis." I find this nowhere mentioned 

 save by Turtou, whose description is lengthy. It is almost certain^ the 

 Kinkajou, Cercoleptes caudivolvulus (Pallas) Tomes, (1777). 



"Striated Weasel or Skunk Viverra putorius." =V. putorius Linn. (Syst 

 Nat., 1758, 44). Ord must have thought this name applicable to the 

 common Skunk of northern N. America, but, as well is well estab- 

 lished, the Linnsean name was chiefly based on the little Striped Skunk 

 of the Carolinas, Spilog ale putorius (Linn.) Gray. 



"WHITE WEASEL VIVERRA ALBUS." From Ord's reference to Lewis and 

 Clark under this heading I am able to find mention of such an animal 

 in only one place (page 191, Coues' 1893 edition) where a Weasel was 

 procured from an Indian, November, 1804, near Bismarck, N. Dakota, 

 "perfectly white except the extremity of the tail, which was black." If 

 this is the specimen examined by Ord at Peale's Museum, Viverra albus 

 Ord, antedates Putorius longicauda Bonap. 



But Ord says this specimen had "dusky" feet. On this account, a 

 very peculiar feature in the genus, it is as probable the specimen was 

 P. nigripes (Aud. &Bach., Quad. N. A., II, 1851, 297.) as P. longicanda, 

 the habitat of both species being in the region where the Indian pro- 

 cured the weasel mentioned by Lewis & Clark. The fact that Ord puts 

 V. albus in Viverra and not in Mustela, in which he puts the Ermine 

 and American Sable, seems to confirm this supposition. As we are not 

 sure, however, that the specimens mentioned respectively by Lewis and 

 Clark and Ord were identical, (Ord making no book reference to L. & C. 

 as in other instances), the Viverra albus Ord must stand as a nomen 

 nudum. See Ord, Jour, de Phys., 1818, 152. 



