Vol. XV, pp. 161-165 August 6, 1902 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



SIX NEW SKUNKS OF THE GENUS CONEPATUS. 



BY C. HART MERRIAM. 



The seemingly inexhaustible collections of Mexican mammals 

 made by E. W. Nelson and E, A. Goldman for the Biological 

 Survey of the U. S. Department of Agriculture contain large 

 series of skunks of all three genera — Mepldtis, Sp'dogale and 

 Conej^atus. Among the latter are several that appear to be new. 

 One of these (C'o)ie2)otus troplcalis) has two dorsal stripes and 

 is closely related to C. mapurito from Bogota. It belongs, 

 apparently, to Gray's Jlarptitius, which seems to be a valid sub- 

 genus. The others are characterized by a single broad dorsal 

 band and by cranial peculiarities that seem to be of sufKcient 

 weight to demand independent subgeneric recognition. The 

 group may be characterized as follows: 



Subgenus Oryctogale nob. 



Type. — Conepatus leuconotus (Liclit.) I'rom Vera Cruz, Mexico. 



Characters. — 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 



31— BiOL. Soc. Wash. Vol. XV, 1902. (161) 



