248 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELIDiE. 



a certain sense of insecurity, unfavorable to peace of mind. 

 To depend upon the good will of so irritable and so formidable 

 a beast, whose temper may be ruffled in a moment, is hazard- 

 ous — like the enjoyment of a cigar in a powder-magazine. 



The Genus CONEPATUS. (Gray.) 



V Tiverra sp., fiulo sp., of some authors. 



< Jli'philis of must authors, 



< Mjirputilis, Gray, Charlesw. Mag. N. H. i. 1837, 581. 

 = Conepatlis, Gray, Charlesw. Majj. X. H. i. 1837, 581. 



= Thiosmiis, Lichtcnstein, Abh. Akad. Berl. for lt<36, 1838. 



The very well-marked characters of this genus have already 

 been given (p. 192). The peculiarities of the skull and teeth are 

 correlated with certain modifications of external contour, which 

 give the animal a somewhat Badger-like aspect, though there is 

 no mistaking it for anything but a Skunk. It is the only known 

 representative of the subfamily in South America. 



I have not been able to examine any specimens of this genus 

 from other than United States and Mexican localities, represent- 

 ing in strictness the Mephitis [Thiosmiis) viesoleuciis of Lichtcn- 

 stein and late American writers, the leuconotiis of Lichtcnstein, 

 and the 31. nasuta of Bennett. The synonymatic list given 

 beyond must be regarded as somewhat tentative or presump- 

 tive, indicating that I see nothing in the descri^ytions of authors 

 forbidding the supposition that the seemingly interminable list 

 of nominal species really refers to more than a single good one. 

 In adopting a name for the *'Conepatl", I simply take the oldest 

 one I find. Should there prove to be more than one species of 

 this genus included in the synonyms given, my article is to be 

 held to refer solely to that one which occurs in Mexico and the 

 southwestern portion of the United States, and upon which the 

 descriptive matter herewith given is exclusively based. 



i^owhere, perhaps, in the literature of mammalogy have 

 greater confusion and uncertainty prevailed than in that por- 

 tion which relates to the Skunks, and the history of the Cone- 

 patl is certainly not less hopelessly involved than that of other 

 Skunks. Views of authors have oscillated between such ex- 

 tremes as those held by Cuvier and his imitators, for whom a 

 Skunk was a Skunk, and those of other persons for whom an 

 inch of tail or a speck of color was a good specific character. 

 Into the tedious discussion of the names cited below I do not 

 propose to enter, but shall content myself with giving a faithful 

 description of the United States animal. 



