370 BuLivETiN 83 



we find first that all of the species fall into two commonly known 

 groups (genera). The larger skunks {Chincha or Mephitis) are 

 marked with a stripe or stripes down the back, except a few indi- 

 viduals which are wholly black. They are never spotted. The. 

 smaller skunks (Spilogalc) are spotted in addition to whatever 

 stripes they may have, or striped and cross-banded so as to appear 

 more or less spotted, and are often known as spotted skunks or 

 "civet cats." (These, by the way, are properly called civet, though 

 in Arizona the Ring Tail is miscalled by this name.) Plates II and 

 111 indicate clearly the differences between striped and spotted 

 skunks (North American Fauna No. 26) we are told that "while 

 there are a few authentic cases of skunk bite having resulted fa- 

 tally, there are also many instances in which it has produced no ill 

 effect whatever. The recorded cases of skunk rabies are nearly all 

 from the plains region of the west * * * * and relate more to 

 Mephitis than to Spilogale. The most plausible explanation of these 

 facts seems to be that at certain periods rabies may become locally 

 epidemic among dogs and wolves, and by them be communicated 

 to skunks." Thus the blame is thrown mainly upon the striped 

 skunks, the reverse of the usual opinion in Arizona. We are re- 

 ferred in this work to Fur-Bearing Animals, by Elliott Coues (1877) 

 and in this work several authentic cases of death from rabies fol- 

 lowing skunk bite (kinds of skunk not specified) are reported, four 

 of them by a United States Army surgeon. One case of recovery 

 from such a bite without rabies resulting is also specifically re- 

 ported. Another portion of the same work deals with the report of 

 another United States Army surgeon (John G. Jane way, M. D., 

 Assistant Surgeon U. S. A.) who personally observed fifteen fatal 

 cases of hydrophobia. Ten of these resulted from skunk bite (kind 

 of skunk not stated.) Details of three of these ten cases are given, 

 from which we learn that these three individuals were bitten in the 

 night, one in the nose, one in the little finger, and the other in the 

 hand. 



Dr. Antonio Lagorio, of the Chicago Pasteur Institute, makes 

 the following statement in the Tempe Normal Student, (May 15, 

 1908) : 



"I have found skunk ])ites to be very dangerous, and 1 am 

 convinced that all persons bitten by skunks should take at once the 

 Pasteur treatment. I have known of several deaths from hydro- 

 phobia, due to skunk bites. Last year a skunk was brought alive 



