132 



MAMMALS OF AMERICA 



Mephitis group being a good diagnostic character. 

 There is a wide range of individual variation in color- 

 ation, some animals having the white stripes very broad 

 and prominent, others being nearly all black. About 15 

 species and subspecies are known from the region under 

 discussion. Many of the characters upon which the 

 species are based are to be found only in the skull. 



Rel.\ted Species 



Large Striped Skunk. — Mrl'liitis inrphilis (Schre- 

 ber). Typical animal described above. Eastern Canada. 



Hudsonian Skunk. — Mcpliitis hi<dsoiiica (Richard- 

 son). Larger: tail heavy and with no white tip. West- 

 ern Canada from Manitoba to British Columbia, south 

 to Colorado, Nebraska and Minnesota. 



New England Striped Skunk. — Mephitis putida 

 Boitard. Size medium; tail longer than that of 

 Mephitis, tip white. New England and Middle Atlantic 

 States, south to Virginia, west to Indiana. 



Florida Striped Skunk. — Mepliitis elongata (Bangs). 

 Florida to North Carolina and West Virginia, west on 

 Gulf coast to the Mississippi. 



Southern Striped Skunk. — Mephitis mesoinclas 

 mesotnelas Lichtenstein. Size very small; tail short, 

 generally all black. Mississippi Valley from southern 

 Louisiana to Missouri, westward into Texas. 



Arizona Striped Skunk. — Mephitis estor Merriam. 

 Black stripe on back narrow, tail with white tip. 

 .Arizona. New Mexico and eastern California. 



Western Striped Skunk, or California Skunk. — 

 Mephitis oceidentalis oeeidentalis Baird. Wide 

 lateral stripes not extending far onto tail ; hairs of 

 tail white on basal half. California in central and 

 southern part, and southwestern Oregon. 



Puget Sound Skunk. — Mephitis oceidentalis spissi- 

 (irada (Bangs). Skull narrow; tail long. Puget Sound 

 and coast region of Washington, and northern Oregon. 



Mearns Hooded Skunk, or Northern Hooded 

 Skunk. — Mephitis inacroura inilleri (Mearns). Size 

 medium. A member of a subgenus Leueoiiiitra that 

 differs from the other Striped Skunks in having dorsal 

 stripe continuous along back, not forked. A group 

 of southern distribution, Mexico. It reaches the United 

 States only in Southern Arizona. 



Photograph by S. A. Lottndge 



STRIPED SKUNK 



This pretty animal appeals to the sense of sight, if not of smell. 



commercial commodity 



Its handsome fur is a valuable 



The Striped Skunk is among the handsomest 

 animals of the fields, but being a wanderer of 

 the night, he is not so frequently seen as the 

 Squirrel or Woodchuck. However he is not 

 strictly a nocttirnal animal and may be found 

 wandering about the fields in broad daylight, by 

 the unwary. 



The Skunk, like many other animals, is known 

 in different localities by special names, such as 

 "wood-pussy."' "essence-peddler,"' and "pole- 

 cat." Unlike most other animals, it has in- 

 creased rather than decreased in numbers in the 

 rural districts, for civilization has diininished 



its natural enemies and increased the food 

 resources. 



It is perfectly fearless of man and other 

 animals, and if allowed to go its way imdis- 

 turbed, will pass close to you with a genteel and 

 dignified indifference, attending strictly to its 

 own business; but. if interfered with or followed 

 closely or suddenly alarmed, it will prepare for 

 self protection, and woe to the man or animal 

 insisting on disttirbing it too much. Such im- 

 ])Iicit confidence has the animal in its own ability 

 to defend itself that it wanders about as boldly 

 as though lord of all it stirveys. 



