514 CONEPATUS. 



skull a gradual curve from occiput to end of premaxillae ; fore claws 

 large and strong; soles naked for half the length of foot. 



A. Oryctogale. 



"Snout very long, overhanging the incisors a full inch (25 mm.), 

 with a large naked pad on upper side for rooting in the ground ; soles 

 of hind feet entirely naked to heel; color black, with a single white 

 median dorsal band, beginning on top of head between ears (or 

 midway between eyes and ears) and reaching posteriorly to tail; 

 tail white except at base underneath, which is black; skull relatively 

 high; anterior nares large and obliquely truncate, broadly open as 

 seen from above; ascending arm of premaxillae reduced to a slender 

 oblique splint; nasals and maxillae ending posteriorly on essentially 

 same plane; anterior part of nasals (in profile) essentially in fronto- 

 nasal plane (not upturned or pugged) ; postorbital constriction slight ; 

 antorbital foramen single throughout." (Merr., 1. c.) 



KEY TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES. 



A. Dorsal area white. 



a. Size large, tail long. 



a/ Black at base of tail beneath very re- PAGE 



stricted C. sonoriensis 514 



b/ Black at base of tail beneath y$ to ]/% 



of its total length, 

 a." White on back broad; rump never 



black C. leuconotus 515 



b." White on back restricted; rump often 



black C.I. texensis 515 



c/ Tail all white above and below. 



a." Skull, occipito-nasal length, 678 mm.; 

 length of upper premolar and molars, 



1 6 mm C. mesoleucus 515 



b." Skull, occipito-nasal length, 664 mm.; 



length of upper premolar and molars, 



17 mm C. m. mearnsi 516 



b. Size small, tail short. 



a/ Hind foot, 74 mm C. jelipensis 517 



b/ Hind foot, 61 mm C. pediculus 517 



B. Dorsal stripes two . C. tropicalis 517 



490. sonoriensis (Conepatus), Merr., Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., xv, 



1902, p. 162. 

 SONORAN SKUNK. 



Type locality. Camoa, Rio Mayo, State of Sonora, Mexico. 



