256 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID.E. 



zygomatic root, and consequently being rather a tube than a 

 hole. The zygomatic bones are slenderer and less laminar than 

 in Mephitis. The arch, as a whole, is shorter and more an- 

 terior ; in skulls of the same length laid together, the back 

 roots of the arch in Conepatus fall in advance of the other when 

 the muzzles are together. Viewed from behind, the occipital 

 surface is much higher and narrower; thus the distance from 

 the bottom of the foramen magnum to the occipital protuber- 

 ance is greater than the interparoccipital width ; in Mephitis^ 

 it is, if anything, less. Beneath, the palate is seen to end some 

 distance back of a line drawn across behind the molars ; the 

 pterygoids and contained interspace are correspondingly shorter 

 than in Mepliitis, in which the palate ends more nearly opposite 

 the back molars. The edge of the palatal shelf is simply trans- 

 verse in some specimens, while in others it shows a little median 

 process backward, and we may presume that in other cases it 

 is nicked, for all this variation is now well known to occur in 

 both Mephitis and Spilogale. 



The lower jaw gives excellent characters. The angle of the 

 mandible is strongly exflected and the emargination between 

 this and the condyle is slight. The corouoid process rises with 

 considerable backward obliquity, with a very convex anterior 

 border, and concave posterior one, carrying the apex of the 

 bone backward to a point nearly or directly over the condyle. 



A peculiarity of the dentition of Conepatus has been unduly 

 exaggerated by some authors, who assign a different dental 

 formula {ptn, |5|, as against pm. 5^ in Mephitis). But the sup- 

 posed wanting anterior premolar is often present ; though it is 

 always minute, probably never functionally developed, and 

 deciduous or abortive on one or both sides. I see this small 

 tooth plainly in two skulls before me, but do not find it in a 

 third; in which last there is instead an unusual diastema be- 

 tween the canine and the nearest premolar. This point dis- 

 posed of, nothing in the dentition of Conepatus calls for special 

 remark. The detailed account given under the head of Mephitis 

 mephitica is here equally applicable. 



Yertebrie: C. 7 ; D. 10 ; L. 5; S. 3; Cd. IS {Gerrard). 



Description of the anal glands. 



The anal armature of this species has been investigated by M. 

 Chatin, who has published a thorough description, illustrated 

 with excellent figures, in the Annates des Sciences Xaturelles, as 



