THE GENUS TAXIDEA T. AMERICANA. 263 



ing half-way to ends of pterygoids. Bull* auditoria} at a maximum of 

 inflation, impinging beliind upon paroccipitals. Condyles of jaw often 

 locked in the glenoid. Coronoid of jaw erect, pointed, its j)osterior edge 

 augulated by the meeting of two straightish lines. (For further cranial char- 

 acters see page 269.) 



Body extremely stout, squat, and clumsy, owing to great depression ; tail 

 short, broad, flattened ; pelage loose ; coloration diff"ase ; fore claws ex- 

 tremely large, highly adapted for digging. Habits thoroughly terrestrial 

 and fossorial. 



Taxidea is confined to North and Middle America. " This 

 genus," as Prof. Baird* has remarked, ^'is so strikingly differ- 

 ent from Meles as to render it a matter of astonishment that 

 the typical species were ever combined." It is represented by 

 a single species, divisible into two geographical races. 



The American Badger. 



Taxidea aiuericaua. 



Plate XVI. 



Ursus taxus, Schreh. "Saug. iii. 1778, .520, f. 142 B. (After Buflfon.)" 



Meles taxus var. americauus, Bodd. Elench. Anim. i. 1784, 136. 



Meles amerlcanus, Zimm. Penn. Arktische Zool. i. 1787, 74. (Quotes Boddaert.) 



* Mamm. N. Am. p. 201. From direct comparison of skulls, which I have 

 not made, this author has concisely set forth many leading points of dissim- 

 ilarity. I quote his article, with some abridgment: — 



" The most striking peculiarity of Taxidea consists in the great expanse of 

 the occipital region, the width of the occiput being [nearly or about] equal 

 to that of the skull, measured between the outer surfaces of the zygomatic 

 arches. Thus the general shape is that of a depressed wedge, widest behind 

 and truncated anteriorly, instead of being very much widest across the 

 zygomatic arches, as in Meles, . . . The occipital crests are well developed 

 in Taxidea, the sagittal very moderate. The auditory bulhB are very large 

 and convex. The processes of the glenoid cavity are not so well developed 

 as in Meles, though occasionally sufficiently developed to lock the condyles 

 of the lower jaw. The coronoid process has its apex pointed instead of 

 rounded or truncated ; its posterior margin is formed by two lines, the lower 

 rising nearly perpendicularly a little in advance of the condyle, the other 

 rather longer than the tirst, making a very obtuse angle with it. The dilfer- 

 ences in the character of the teeth are equally striking, though their number 

 is the same. The penultimate or sectorial upper molar [last premolar] is 

 very large and triangular ; fully equal in size to the last molar, instead of 

 being much smaller ; it has likewise a large tubercle on the inner lobe, 

 scarcely observable in Meles. The last molar is also triangular, (nearly right- 

 angled,) somewhat resembling half of the quadrilateral tooth of Meles. In the 

 lower jaw the last premolar is larger than in Meles, and has two tubercles. 

 The penultimate molar is smaller and not dilated behind. The portion of its 

 crown which is applied against the upper sectorial molar [premolar] is larger 

 than that in contact with the last upper molar, instead of being smaller, as 

 ■in Meles.'' 



