6 Howell Generic Names of North American Skunks. 



which he travelled, the reference to the large skunk is implied. 



The second species in the original genus Mephitis, viz. : l le 

 chincheS Viverra mephitis, is admittedly one of the large 

 North American skunks, the only question raised by Dr. Allen 

 being the proper application of the specific name. 



Hence, as stated in my previous paper, Viverra mephitis hav 

 ing been removed by Lesson in 1842 to form the genus Chincha, 

 the remaining species, V. putorius (here shown to be applicable 

 to the species now known as Spilogale ringens) becomes, by 

 elimination, the type of the genus Mephitis. 



The question of the type is not affected by the revisions of 

 the genus by Gray (1837) and Lichtenstein (1838), for the rea 

 son that neither of the two groups composing the original 

 genus was removed by them to another genus. Even on the as 

 sumption that Cuvier's first species ( V. putorius) is not a Spil 

 ogale, neither Gray's revision nor Lichtenstein's is a 'restriction' 

 or 'dismemberment' of the original genus (which according to 

 this view contains but one group) but is simply a removal into 

 new genera of species which had been associated with Mephitis 

 by later authors.* 



The Genus Chincha. 



The applicability of the name Chincha to the large North 

 American skunks is not questioned by Dr. Allen, except that he 

 considers Chincha a synonym of Mephitis; but since he has 

 opened the way for a fuller discussion of the evidence on this 

 point, it may be well to refer to several facts which have 

 come to my attention since the publication of my paper on the 

 genus. 



These facts relate to the basis of Lesson's type species, Chin 

 cha americana. A critical re-examination of the references 

 cited under this name indicates that the last that to F. Cuvier 

 is the most important, rather than the first * Viverra mephitis 

 Erxl.' which, on account of its prominent position, I rather 

 hastily assumed to be the one on which Lesson relied as the 

 basis of his type. The importance of the reference to Cuvier is 



*In this connection it my be well to call attention to a lapsus penna in 

 Dr. Allen's paper, where on page 328, in the 6th and 7th lines from the 

 top of the page, the words 'first' and 'second' should be interchanged. 



