HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN BADGER. 



275 



Mexico and California) av^erao^es 462 in length and 2.02 in 

 width, the extremes being, in length, 4.75 and 4.50, and in 

 width, 3.07 and 2.80. 



"The skalls, and especially the molar teeth, in the American 

 Badgers, vary considerably in different individuals, as long 

 since pointed oat by Professor Baird.* Southern specimens 

 differ from northern ones not only in being smaller, but some- 

 what in color, so that the T. berlandleri of Professor Baird may 

 perhaps be entitled to subspeciflc rank (T. americana subsp. 

 herlandierl)^ though the material at hand indicates that the 

 two forms will be found to thoroughly intergrade. The chief 

 differences in coloration consist in the more reddish-gray tint 

 of the .southern form, with a decided tendency to a continuous 

 light dorsal stripe, instead of this stripe being restricted to the 

 head. 



^^Measurements of eleven slcuUs of Taxidea americana. 



History of the Americcm Badger, 



The early history of the American Badger is curiously in- 

 volved, not only with that of the European species, but with 

 several entirely different animals. The celebrated traveller, 

 Kalm,f speaks of the occurrence of the common Badger in 

 Pennsylvania, where, he adds, it is called "ground hog"'. But 

 this is a common appellation of the Woodchuck, Arctomys mo- 

 naxj to which, doubtless, Kalm's note is to be considered to 

 apply. In 175G, Brissonf describes a ^^Jkles alba^^ from New 

 York; but this, it seems, proved to be an albino Raccoon, Pro- 

 cyon lotor. "Buffon," (says Sir JohnEichardson,§) "in the body 

 of his great work, doubts whether the Badger be an inhabitant 

 of the American continent," .... "but afterwards, in the first 



^'' U. S. and Mex. Bouud. Survey, Zool. p. 21.'" t Trav. i. p. l"ry. 



t Regne Auim. p. 255. V^ F. B.-A. i. p. .38. 



