10 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID.E. 



digits; digits incompletely or uofc webbed. External appear- 

 auce and habits variable, accortling to the genera and species, 

 none strictly fossorial ; progression digitigrade and siibplanti- 

 grade ; size from nearly the maximum to the minimum in the 

 family ; body never much depressed, nor tail conical or distich- 

 ous. Perinatal glands moderately developed. No peculiar sub- 

 caudal pouch. Nature highly predacious. 



2. MEPiiiTiNiE. — Teeth of ordinary Carnivorous pattern, 34 

 or 32 in number, according to varying number of premolars, 

 whether :|^ [Mephitis and ^piJogale) or indifferently -^^ij or ^;;3 

 [Concimtus); the number unequal in the two jaws, J^ or j^. In- 

 cisors, en nines, and molars as in the last subfamily. Molar of 

 upper jaw (juadrate, about as wide as long (varying in detail 

 with the genera). Posterior upper premolar with a large inner 

 shelf, giving a triangular shape to the tooth, llostral part of 

 skull moderately produced, and otherwise much as in the last 

 (aperture of nares very oblique in Conepatm)-, cerebral portion 

 as in Mustelina', Postorbital processes slight or obsolete. An- 

 teorbital foramen very small, circular, sometimes subdivided 

 into two or more canals. Posterior nares completely separated 

 b}' a bony septum reaching to the end of the bony palate. 

 Bony palate ending opposite last molars (Mepliitis^ Spilogale) 

 or a little back of them, but not half-way to ends of pterygoids, 

 {Concpatiis). Auditory bulhe little inflated, with much constric- 

 tion of the tubular meatus. Mastoids well developed, outward. 

 Periotic region flattened and expansive behind the bulla?, the 

 surface nearly horizontal, the paroccipitals remote from the 

 bullic. Glenoid shallow, presenting much forward as well as 

 downward, without anterior wall, never locking condyle. Coro- 

 noid process of jaw conical in profile, erect, wholly' in advance 

 of condyle (except in Concpatus, which, in this respect, singularly 

 resembles Enhijdra). Feet with ordinary development and ratio 

 of digits; digits not webbed. Form stout; tail very bushy; 

 pelage long; colors black and white. Habits strictly terrestrial, 

 more or less fossorial; progression i)lantigrade; movements 

 slow. Size moderate and small. No peculiar subcaudal pouch. 

 Perinieal glands extraordinarily developed, affording a means 

 of offence and defence. 



3. Melinje.* — Teeth of ordinary Carnivorous pattern, 34 in 



" The characters here given are drawn entirely from the American genus 

 Taxidea, and will require modiiication in order to their applicability to the 

 subfamily at larjie. 



