Howell Generic Names of North American Skunks. 9 



resented by the species Viverra mephitis, to form a new sub- 

 genus was perfectly legitimate. 



5. The type of the genus Mephitis was fixed, not by Lesson's 

 assignment of the name to his third subgenus, but by the action 

 of the principle of elimination, through the removal of Chincha 

 from the original genus. 



6. Mustela putida Cuvier, 1798, does not preoccupy Mephitis 

 putida Boitard, 1842, for the reason that the former name, hav 

 ing been shown to be .based on Catesby's Polecat rather than 

 Kalm's, is applicable to a species of Spilogale (Mephitis as re 

 stricted) while Boitard's name belongs to the large skunk of 

 New Jersey a species of Chincha. 



Y. Viverra mephitis Schreber, cannot, on account of the color 

 pattern and short tail of the type specimen, relate to any species 

 of the subgenus Leucomitra. Its restriction to the skunk of 

 eastern Canada is entirely within the bounds of a reasonable 

 interpretation of the probable origin of the specimen on which 

 the name was based. 



EXPLANATION OP PLATE. 

 (From photographs). 



Fig. 1. Skin of CMncha putida, from Washington. D. C. 



Fig. 2. Skin of Spilogale ringens from Roan Mtn., N. C. (Top view.) 



Fig. 3. Skin of Spilogale ringens from Roan Mtn., N. C. (Side view.) 



Fig. 4. Reproduction of Catesby's plate of the 'pol-cat'. 



