290 IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



afraid when one approaches the cages, and the contrast is more 

 marked to one who knows the sly, secretive, vicious character 

 of these animals in the wild. "When the old time trapper shall 

 have passed and the last pair of steel jaws shall have rusted 

 away, we may still wrap ourselves comfortably from the wintry 

 blasts because of the successful solution of those who have es- 

 tablished the industry of mink farming. 



ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE LITTLE SPOTTED 

 SKUNK, 8PIL0GALE INTERRUPT A RAF. 



B. H. BAILEY. 



In volume XXII of the Proceedings of the Iowa Academy 

 of Science, it was shown that the Little Spotted Skunk is state- 

 wide in its distribution. Since writing the last article, I have 

 received specimens from Muscatine, Iowa, from Mr. J. Green- 

 blatt; also from Mr. Christian Hoeg, of Decorah, Iowa, who 

 states that they seem to be quite common in that vicinity; and 

 also from Sabula, Iowa, at which place Mr. J. C. Day and son 

 had received during the winter of 1915 and 1916, up to the 

 17th of March, 1916, twenty-five pelts of "civet cats," trapped 

 in the immediate vicinity of Sabula. Further effort to discover 

 whether the Little Spotted Skunk has crossed the Mississippi to 

 the Illinois side has resulted negatively in the region of Musca- 

 tine and Davenport, but from Mr. C. H. Swift of Sabula, Iowa, 

 I learned that he had personally trapped two specimens of the 

 Little Spotted Skunk on the Illinois side of the Mississippi river, 

 north of Savannah, "twenty years ago." These two specimens 

 were caught while trapping for larger skunks. That they have 

 not become common in that region is evident by the testimony 

 of several men in Savannah, notably, Mr. George N. Machen, 

 who has for many years been a close observer of the wild life 

 in that region. Careful inquiry has further confirmed the state- 

 ment that "civet cats" are far less abundant in the eastern part 

 of the state than are the common large skunks, and that they 

 become relatively more numerous in middle and western Iowa. 

 The firm of J. C. Day & Son, at Sabula, up to date, had pur- 

 chased 814 hides of the common skunk, while as before stated, 

 only twenty-five skins of the "civit cat" or Little Spotted Skunk 

 had been purchased during the same time. 



Department op Zoology. 

 Coe College, Iowa. 



