General Notes. 45 



THE PROPER NAME FOR THE WHITE-BACKED SKUNK OF 

 COLOMBIA. 



The name Conepatus mapurito, based on' Viverra mapurito Gmelin, 1788, 

 has long been in use for the white-backed skunks of northern South 

 America, and indeed until quite recently was used in a broad sense for all 

 the members of the genus. 



It now appears that this name is preoccupied by Viverra mapurila Miiller, 

 1776.* The animal described very briefly by Mullerf is a species of 

 Spilogale, as is evident from the reference to the Zorille of Buffon. 



In seeking for another name for the South American Conepatus, I find 

 that Viverra semistriata Boddsert, 1785,t is strictly available, and even if V. 

 mapurito Gmel. were not preoccupied, Boddsert's name, being of earlier 

 date and having the same basis, would have to be used. 



Both Boddsert and Gmelin based their names on a description by Mutis 

 of the skunk occurring at the mines of Pamplona, in the mountains of 

 Colombia.? I have seen no specimens from that region, and the descrip 

 tion of the color pattern given by Mutisj) differs slightly from that of two 

 specimens from Merida, Venezuela, kindly furnished me by Dr. J. A. 

 Allen. The apparent discrepancy may be due either to the ambiguity of the 

 Latin description or to individual variation in the species. It is not proba 

 ble that more than one species occurs in the vicinity of Pamplona, and this 

 should now be known as Conepatus semislriatus (Boddsert). Arthur H. 

 Howell. 



THE PROPER NAME FOR THE EASTERN SKUNK. 



Dr. D. G. Elliot, in his recently published Check List of Mammals, |" 

 proposes to replace the name Mephitis putida Boitard by Mephitis olida 

 Boitard, on the ground that the former is preoccupied by " Mephitis putida " 

 Cuvier, 1798. As a matter of fact, Cuvier did not use the combination 

 " Mephitis putida, 1 ' but proposed- Mustela putida as a substitute for Viverra 

 putorius Linn., and so far as I have been able to determine, his name was 

 never adopted by later authors. 



I have elsewhere shown** that Mustela putida Cuv. does not belong to the 

 genus Mephitis as now understood, so that Boitard's Mephitis putida is not 

 preoccupied by Cuvier's Mustela putida and should stand for the common 

 Eastern skunk. Arthur H. Howell. 



* Natursystems Supplements, p. 32. Sherborn (" Index Animalium," p. 584) quotes 

 this name as " napnrita," but in the copy in the library of the Department of Agriculture 

 it is spelled with an " m." 



t ' ' Er hat einen lockeren haarigen Schwanz, und ist am Korper weiss und Schwartz gefleckt." 



t Elenchus Animalium, p. 84. 



i Abhand. Schwedisch Akad. Wiss., 1770, p. 68. 



|| " Color totius corporis nigerrimus est: Corpus supra longitudinaliter maculatum linea 

 albissima, infronte admolum latiori, ibidem utnnqueconnexa, deinde retror sum tenuiori facia, 

 usque ad medium ddrsi decurrevte. Cauda tola nigerrima est, apice vero albida." 



fl " Check List of Mammals of the No. Amer. Continent," etc., Field Columbian Mus. 

 Zool. Ser. VI, p. 406, 1905. 



** Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., XV, pp. 2-5, 1902. 



