276 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID.E. 



addition to bis article on, the Glutton, described the skin of a 

 true Badger, which he received, it is said, from Labrador, under 

 the misapplied name of Carcajou." We find the same confusion 

 with a vernacular name of the Gulo luscus or Wolverene to con- 

 tinue for many years among French naturalists; thus, in 184-2, 

 Gervais still si)eaks of the " Carkajou, ou Blaireau d'Am6rique". 

 I am not able, at the time of present writing, to consult Button's 

 work. His figure, given in the supplement of the llistoire Na- 

 turelle ("»)1. 49"), is stated to have been afterward given by 

 Schreber, in 1778, as plate 112 B of the " Saugthiere". Schre- 

 ber's work is not just now accessible to me. He is cited for a 

 name, '•^Ursu.s taxus^\ as applicable to the American Badger, 

 though quoted as considering our species as distinct from the 

 European. 



Pennant, one of the more accurate and reliable among the 

 early writers, is sadly at fault in the present case. After treat- 

 ing of an "American Badger" in his earlier works, he afterward, 

 in the Arctic Zoology, as above quoted, united it with the Eu- 

 ropean MeleSy and, besides thus confounding it with a totally 

 different species, he perpetuates several errors. Thus lie quotes 

 Kalm (see last paragraph) for its supposed occurrence in Penn- 

 sylvania, and speaks of its being "sometimes found white in 

 America", evidently having Brisson's albino Kaccoon in view. 



Boddaert, in 1784, seems to have been the first to bestow a 

 technical appellation upon our animal, calling it Meles taxus var. 

 americamis. Zimmermann, citing Boddaert, adopted the name 

 Meles americamis in his German translation of Pennant's Arctic 

 Zoology. This name has priority over all others that Jiave come 

 to my knowledge, though it was suffered to rest almost unno- 

 ticed nntil very recently, when, in 1857, it was formally adopted 

 by Prof. Baird, whose example has been generally followed by 

 subsequent writers. 



Linnaeus (17G6) makes no mention whatever of an American 

 species of Badger. Supposing him to have had any knowledge 

 of the animal from Buftbn, his unworthy jealousy of the great 

 French naturalist would have led him to studiously ignore the 

 fact, in gratification of his absurd and puerile whim. 



The name lahradoria, or lahradorius, by which our Badger 

 has been usually known, was imposed by Gmelin in 1788. His 

 Ursus lahradorius is based primarily upon Schreber's plate 

 112 B. Other citations given by him are, the "American Bad- 

 ger" of Pennant, Quad. no. 113, and the " Carcajou" of Buffon, 



