CAUNARIA. 103 



that of the Polecat, mingled with a strong smell of garlic 

 nothing is more nauseous. 



It would seem that in South America the species most usu- 

 ally encountered has a white tail. The stripes on the back 

 sometimes occupy its whole breadth; it is the Viverra mephitis, 

 Gm.; Buff. XIII, xxxix, or the Chinche.(l) 



We may make a distinct subgenus of the Mydaus, Fred. Cuv. 

 whose teeth, feet, and even colours are similar to those of the 

 Skunk, but whose truncated muzzle resembles a Hog's snout ; 

 the tail being reduced to a small pencil. One species only is 

 known, the 



M. meliceps, Fred. Cuv., and Horsf. Java. (The Teledu.) 

 Black ; the nape of the neck, a stripe along the back and the 

 tail white ; the dorsal stripe sometimes interrupted in the mid- 

 dle ; not surpassed in stench by any of the Skunks. 



LuTRA, Storr. 



The Otters have three false molars in each jaw, a strong heel to 

 the superior carnivorus, a tuberculus on the inner side of the inferior 

 one, and a large tuberculous tooth above that is nearly as long as it 

 is broad. The head is compressed, and the tongue demi-asperate. 

 They are otherwise distinguished from all the preceding subgenera 

 by palmated feet, and a horizontally flattened tail, two characters 

 which render them aquatic. Their food is fish. 



L. vulgaris; Mustela Intra, L.j Buff. VIII, xi. (The Com- 

 mon Otter.) Brown above, whitish round the lips, on the 

 cheeks and the whole inferior surface of the body. It is some- 

 times found spotted and whitish. From the rivers of Europe. 

 Several Otters differ but little from the above. That of Ca- 

 rolina, L. lataxina, Fr. Cuv. , becomes a little larger, is some- 

 times more deeply coloured, and has a brownish tint beneath ; 

 very frequently, however, there is no difference even in the 

 shades of colour. In Brazil there are others similar in every 

 respect to those of Carolina. That of the East Indies the L. 

 nair, Fr. Cuv., (The Pondicherry Otter) appears a little 

 smoother, and is somewhat pale about the eye-brows, but it is 

 scarcely perceptible. The Indians employ it for fishing, as we 



(1) It is better figured. Hist, des Mammif. of Fr. Cuv. The Chili Skunk, Buff. 

 Supp. VII, pi. Ivli, appeal's to be a mere badly preserved variety of the same. See 

 ray Ossemens Foss. IV, 469. 



N.B. This is the same animal with the immediately preceding species, and has 

 been called the V. conepatl a.nd V. chinche. No two individuals of this species are 

 alike, being sometimes even wholly white or the reverse. Am. Ed. 



