252 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID^. 



frequently presents a worn scrubby appearance, as if abraded; 

 and the white tip, when occurring in connection with bUick, 

 may seem as if imperfectly connected with the remaining por- 

 tion. There is something very peculiar in the character of the 

 white hairs of the tail of this or other Skunks; it is very 

 coarse, stiff, yet weak and brittle, almost like Antelope hair, to 

 which it has been aptly compared; it seems as if partially de- 

 vitalized, and readily falls or breaks off. The same character 

 is observable in the white portion of those hairs which are 

 black at the end. In general shape, the tail is rather depressed, 

 or slightly distichous, than uniformly cylindrical or bushy. 



The soles of the fore feet are perfectly naked from the wrist- 

 joint, but overhung along the sides w^ith a fringe of long hairs. 

 The tuberculation is not well marked ; but at the bases of the 

 digits, in advance of a general broad bare area, two incom- 

 pletely divided pads are observable. The fore claws are very 

 large, long, strong, compressed, little curved, not excavated 

 underneath, and eminently fossorial. The middle three claws 

 are of approximately the same size, though they are a little 

 graded in length from fourth to second; the tifth is notably 

 smaller, reaching to the middle of the fourth ; the first is much 

 shorter and more curved, reaching little beyond the base of the 

 second. The terminal bulbs of all the toes are large. 



The soles of the hind feet, like the palms, are perfectly 

 naked from the heel in all the specimens examined, fringed 

 along the side with long hairs. The tuberculation of the soles 

 is better marked than that of the palms, and somewhat pecu- 

 liar, but not to the extent which Dr. Gray^s remarks would 

 indicate. The general broad flat area of the posterior part is 

 divided by a transverse sulcus of variable depth and distinct- 

 ness from the bulbous part at the base of the toes. This latter 

 is not a continuous pad, as indicated by Dr. Gray — not always 

 at any rate; even in the dried specimens before me it is dis- 

 tinctly divided into three bulbs, much as in Mephitis — one at 

 the bases of the three middle toes, and another at the base of 

 each lateral toe. The claws are very much smaller than those 

 of the fore feet, short, stout at base, moderately curved, obtuse, 

 excavated beneath. The third and fourth are subequal and 

 longest, the second is little shorter, the fifth much shorter, and 

 the first shorter still. 



The pelage is very coarse and harsh throughout. The pecu- 

 liarity of the white hairs of the tail has been already indicated. 



