572 CARNIVORA 



the Chernobours, where they are captured by spearing, clubbing, or 

 nets, and recently by the more destructive rifle bullet. They do 

 not feed on fish, like the true Otters, but on clams, mussels, sea- 

 urchins, and crabs, for the mastication of which the blunt cusps of 

 their teeth are admirably suited. The female brings forth but a 

 single young one at a time, apparently at any season of the 

 year. They are excessively shy and wary, and all attempts to 

 rear the young ones in captivity have hitherto failed. 



Subfamily Melinse. — Feet elongated. Toes straight. Claws 

 non-retractile, slightly curved, subcompressed, blunt ; those of the 

 fore foot especially large. Upper molar variable. Kidneys simple. 

 Habits mostly terrestrial and fossorial. 



Mephitis. 1 — Dentition: j |, c \, p f, m \\ total 34. Upper 

 molar larger than the carnassial, subquadrate, rather broader than 

 long. Lower carnassial with talon less than half the length of the 

 whole tooth. Bony palate terminating posteriorly opposite the 

 hinder border of the last molar tooth. Facial portion of skull 

 short and somewhat truncated in front. Vertebras: C 7, D 16, 

 L 6, S 2, C 21. Head small. Body elongated. Limbs moderate, 

 subplantigrade. Ears short and rounded. Tail long, abundantly 

 clothed with very long fine hair. Anal glands largely developed. 

 The secretion of these glands, which can be discharged at the will 

 of the animal, has an intolerably offensive odour, which circumstance 

 has rendered the Skunks, as they are commonly called, proverbial. 

 They are strictly nocturnal animals, terrestrial and burrowing, feed- 

 ing chiefly on small mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, worms, roots, 

 and berries. All the known species have a prevalent black colour, 

 varied by white strips or spots on the upper part (Fig. 263). They 

 generally carry the body much arched, and the tail erect, the long 

 loose hair of which waves like a plume over the back. There are 

 three species, all inhabitants of the American continent, over which 

 they have an extensive range. 



The Common Skunk (M. mephitica, Fig. 263) is an animal of 

 about the size of a small Cat, ranging from Hudson's Bay to 

 Guatemala. The following account of its habits is given by 

 Dr. C. H. Merriam in his Mammals of the Adirondack Begum: — 



" The skunk preys upon mice, salamanders, frogs, and the eggs 

 of birds that nest on or within reach from the ground. At times 

 he eats carrion, and if he chances to stumble upon a hen's nest the 

 eggs are liable to suffer ; and once in a while he acquires the evil 

 habit of robbing the hen-roost, but as a rule skunks are not addicted 

 to this vice. Of all our native mammals perhaps no one is so 

 universally abused and has so many unpleasant things said about it 

 as the innocent subject of the present biography ; and yet no other 

 species is so valuable to the farmer. Pre-eminently an insect-eater, 



1 Cuvier, "Tabl. de Classif." in Legons d'Anat. Compar. vol. i. (1800). 



