348 FIELD MUSEUM or NATURAL HISTORY ZOOLOGY, VOL. XL 



Spilogale interrupta (RAFINESQUE), PRAIRIE SPOTTED SKUNK. 

 This species may occur in western Wisconsin, as its range is known to 

 extend to northeastern Iowa and the southeastern border of Minne- 

 sota, but so far as known it has not as yet been taken within our 

 limits. It resembles S. putorius, but it is a much blacker animal, the 

 white marking being more restricted and the stripes more broken. 



Genus TAXIDEA Storr. 



Taxidea Storr, Prodr. Meth. Mamm., 1780, p. 34. Type Ursus taxus 



Schreber. 



Body stout; tail short; fore claws large and long, highly developed 

 for digging; skull noticeably wide across occipital; upper carnassial 

 teeth large; bullae very large; lamboidal crest greatly developed in 

 adult; sagittal crest small. (For cut of skull see p. 276.) 



Dental formula: I. ^^, C. * Pm. ^^, M. ^"74. 

 3-3 i-i 3-3 2-2 



Taxidea taxus (SCHREBER). 

 AMERICAN BADGER. 



Ursus taxus SCHREBER, Saugthiere, III, 1778, p. 520. 



Meles Labradoria LAPHAM, Trans. Wis. State Agr. Soc., II, 1852 (1853), p. 338 

 (Wisconsin). KENNICOTT, Trans. 111. State Agr. Soc., I, 1853-54 (1855), p. 

 578 (Cook Co., Illinois). 



Taxidea americana KENNICOTT, Agr. Rept. for 1858, U. S. Patent Office Rept., 

 1859, p. 250 (Illinois). THOMAS, Trans. 111. State Agr. Soc., IV, 1859-60 (1861), 

 p. 655 (Illinois). MILES, Rept. Geol. Surv. Mich., I, 1860 (1861), p. 220 (Mich- 

 igan). ALLEN, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., XIII, 1869 (1871), p. 183 (Iowa). 

 HOY, Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci.-Arts & Lat., V, 1882, p. 256 (Wisconsin). BRAYTON, 

 Rept. Geol. Surv. Ohio, IV, Pt. I, 1882, p. 42 (Kankakee Co., Illinois). STRONG, 

 Geol. Wis., Surv. 1873-79, I. l88 3. P- 437 (Wisconsin). HERRICK, Geol. & Nat. 

 Hist. Surv. Minn., Bull. No. 7, 1892, p. 86 (Minnesota). EVERMANN& BUTLER, 

 Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci., 1893 ( J 894), p. 137 (Indiana). SNYDER, Bull. Wis. Nat. 

 Hist. Soc., II, 1902, p. 122 (Wisconsin). 



Taxidea taxus ADAMS, Rept. State Board Geol. Surv. Mich., 1905 (1906), p. 130 

 (Michigan). JACKSON, Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc., VI, 1908, p. 28 (Wisconsin). 

 HOLLISTER, Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc., VI, 1908, p. 141 (Wisconsin). HAHN, 

 Ann. Rept. Dept. Geol. & Nat. Resources Ind., 1908 (1909), p. 577 (Indiana). 

 WOOD, Bull. 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist., VIII, 1910, p. 574 (Illinois). 



Type locality Originally given as Labrador and Hudson Bay, 



although the species is not known to occur there. 

 Distribution From northern Indiana west to the Sierra Nevada 



Mountains, south at least to Kansas and New Mexico, north in the 



Saskatchewan region to about latitude 5 5 ; replaced in the South and 



West by allied forms. 



