SKULL AND TEETH OF MEPHITIS MEPHITICA. 205 



low and " tuberculous " in comparison with the 'elevated and 

 truly sectorial character of the rest of the tooth ; for, viewed in 

 profile from the outside, the tooth seems wholly sectorial, with 

 two cusps, an anterior, produced, acute one, and a posterior, 

 shorter and obtuse, separated from the other by an acute re- 

 entrance. Taken together, these two external cusps make the 

 trenchant edge of the tooth. The next premolar is immediately 

 and very markedly reduced in size ; it is a small, simple, two- 

 rooted, conical, acute cusp^ with a slight posterior *^heel" and 

 well-marked cingulum on the inner side. The next — anterior — 

 premolar is exactly like the foregoing, but very much smaller 

 still, and single-rooted; it sometimes aborts. In very old skulls, 

 the foregoing descriptions can hardly be verified. The back 

 molar wears down to a perfectly smooth face, with raised inner 

 and outer borders; the flesh-tooth loses its edge and inner cusp, 

 and becomes almost tuberculous throughout; the other pre- 

 molars become mere stumps. The canines offer no points for 

 remark. Of the upper incisors, the lateral pair is much larger 

 than the rest, though not longer. I fail to appreciate any tan- 

 gible difference in this respect between Conepatus and MepJiitis. 

 The tips of the teeth all fall in the same line; they are even and 

 regular; the ends are obscurely lobate. These teeth start from 

 the sockets quite obliquely, but soon turn perpendicularly down- 

 ward, with an appreciable elbow. 



In the lower jaw, the back molar, as usual, is small, simple, 

 circular, single-rooted, with a central depression and irregu- 

 larly raised margin. The next molar is much the largest of the 

 series, and very notably different from the same tooth in Mus- 

 teline. It is fairly sectorial throughout; for the back portion, 

 though lower than the rest, is decidedly of the same character 

 as the other part. This tooth consists of five cusps : a posterior 

 pair, side by side, inner and outer, of equal size and similar 

 shape; a middle pair, side by side, the outer of which is larger 

 and sharper than the inner; and a single anterior cusp. The 

 latter forms, with the exterior middle cusp, the main trenchant 

 edge of the tooth. The interior middle cusp is a higher devel- 

 opment of the "heel", more or less prominent on the inner face 

 of the main cusp of the Musteline tooth. The posterior pair of 

 cusps is the low tuberculous part of the tooth in Miistelinw. 

 The first premolar from behind is a simple conical cusp, two- 

 rooted, with evident heels, both before and behind, and a well- 

 marked cingulum. The next tooth is similar, but smaller, with 



