Mammals 31 



Our skunks belong to three distinct genera, easily known by 

 the color pattern. In the large or ordinary skunks (Mephitis) 

 there are two white stripes on a black ground. In the White- 

 Backed Skunk (Conepatus) the back is entirely white and the 

 snout is elongate. In the spotted skunks (Spilogale) there are 

 four stripes, which are interrupted so as to give a spotted effect. 

 Of Mephitis we have two kinds, the northern plains skunk, M. 

 hudsonica of Richardson, and the long-tailed Texas skunk, M. 

 mesomelas varians of Gray. Mearns' White-Backed Skunk (Cone- 

 patus mesoleucus mearnsi of Merriam), although a large and very 

 conspicuous animal, was only recently added to the Colorado list. 

 In 1891, Warren recorded a specimen found on Little Fountain 

 Creek, southwest of Colorado Springs. He tells me that Mr. F. 

 W. Miller of the Colorado Museum of Natural History reports a 

 specimen taken in Furnace Canyon, on a tributary of Carrizo 

 Creek, Baca County. This latter, proving to have distinctive 

 features in the more massive skull, has been separated as a sub- 

 species C. mesoleucus figginsi of F. W. Miller (Journ. of Mammal- 

 ology Feb. 1925.) Four species of spotted skunks are described 

 by Warren. The prairie spotted skunk, Spilogale interrupta of 

 Rafinesque, has been found only at Wray. It is known by the 

 absence of a white tip to the tail, this being present in the other 

 three. The Arizona spotted skunk, Spilogale arizonae of Mearns, 

 has been found at Salida and Coventry; it is the smallest of our 

 species. The Rocky Mountain spotted skunk, Spilogale tenuis 

 of Howell, has been taken in Estes Park, at Arkins and Boulder 

 and, as I learn from Mr. Warren, near Colorado Springs. The 

 Great Basin spotted skunk, Spilogale gracilis saxatilis of Merriam, 

 was described from Utah, and occurs in western Colorado. 



Skunks show a great deal of self-possession, as if aware of 

 their disagreeable qualities. On one occasion, many years ago, I 

 spent a night in a very small log cabin at the Micawber mine, in 

 the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The owner of the place, who 

 was away, had asked me to try to shoot the mountain rats which 

 infested it. I accordingly went to sleep with a loaded shot-gun 

 by my side. Now there had formerly been a cat, for which a 

 small square hole had been cut in the door. In the middle of the 

 night I woke up, conscious that something was moving in the 

 cabin. Sitting up I saw a fine skunk (Mephitis), by the light of 



