MAMMALS—MELINAE—MEPHITIS BICOLOR. 19 
throughout the Northern, Middle, and Central States. 
the same, its distribution wiil be still wider. The specimen from Louisiana, besides the pecu- 
liarity of color, differs from the northern ones before me in a narrower and more tapering skull 
anteriorly, and may indicate a different species in the southwest. 
From the very great similarity of the different species of American skunks, it becomes a 
matter of much difficulty to settle their synonomy. The common species of eastern North 
America, by many of the earlier authors, has been mixed up and entirely confounded with 
those from South America of an entirely distinct genus, (Zhiosmus.) For this reason it becomes 
impossible to quote the Viverra mephitis of Erxleben, Schreber, Gmelin, and other authors. 
For a long time the name of Mephitis chinga, as imposed by Tiedemann, was supposed to be 
the first name restricted to our common skunk. That of Viverra mephitica, given several 
years before, however, seems to be entitled to replace it, the generic and specific names being 
sufficiently distinct, and the alliteration not more objectionable than in many other fully accepted 
species, as Mus musculus, &c. 
Should the upper Missouri specimens be 
List of specimens. 
Catalog’e eects Locality. When Whence obtained. | Original |Nature of} Collected by— 
number. | No. of skull. | collected. number. |specim’n 
1068 2047 | Middleboro’, Mass----- Dec: L722 55) | UaWib- Jenksee= aes os | Skane a= [saa ee er 
LS) (ee Sa | Pee eS W0ceresen = saa ae Deewd, 18dp)\fo2- == domwaaeae esas | tao naa EO o23| cone = eae 
TOTO! 22 sees 2 So dos 22 esoe ee Dec. 351855) |F=- 2== C6 Co el (ee 220050. | 222-82 ee 
AGG Ba S2 Soe sels dot Zhe. . sa Nov 205"55i|h=2222 GOS seein ss! hee ese S.d0ee lessee asses 
1426 2292 = een doses a seeees- Spring, 1856 |------ dosee=se—see|2o-esa-2 200s 22) cone eeeeeeec 
$1 Us | een eee Se Washington: DFC. eet |sa5 cassette anlar niclam ania ta ES doves 5| eoaeas— eee 
A a Galcasieu! Wa. -S-5E st) s22--ceks=< GraWurdentann. £23\23-32— <-||-oaa ao) eee eee 
? 206 1177 Bois de Sioux, Neb ---- 1853 Gov. I. I. Stevens- 3 --do.---| Dr. Geo. Suckley. 
| 7S aa ag Heart river, Neb -.--.-- Sept. 21, °56 | Lt. G. K. Warren--|_-....-- --do..-.| Dr. F. V. Hayden. 
MEPHITIS BICOLOR. 
Little Striped Skunk. 
Mephitis bicolor, J. E. Gray, Charlesworth’s Mag. N. H. I, 1837, 581. 
Mephitis zorilla, Licurenstein, Ueber Mephitis, Abh. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, for 1836, (1838,) 281 ; tab. ii, f. 2. 
* Te zorille, Burron, Hist. Nat. XIII, 1765, 302; tab. xli.”’ 
(Not of 
Darstellungen neuer Siugt. ; tab. xlviii, f. 2, which represents the African animal.) 
Waener, Suppl. Schreber II, 1841, 199 ; tab. exxiii. 
Aun. & Bacu. N. Am. Quad. III, 1854, 276, (not figured.) 
? 2? Mephitis interrupta, RaFinesque, Annals of Nature, 3, 4. 
Fiscner, Synopsis, 1829, 162. 
? Mephitis interrupta, Licustente1n, Ueber Mephitis, Abh. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, for 1836, (1838,) 283; tab. ii, f. 1. 
(Fide LicuTEensTEIN.) 
Sp. Cu.—Smallest of North American species. Tail vertebre, less than half the body; with the hairs not much more than half. 
Black, with broad white patch on forehead, and crescent before each ear ; four parallel dorsal stripes interrupted and broken 
behind ; a shorter strips on side of belly, running into a posterior transverse crescent, which are white. Tail black throughout, 
to base of hairs, except a pure white pencil at the end. 
This diminutive species, the smallest of the American skunks, is eminently conspicuous for 
the great beauty of its markings. In length is does not exceed an ermine weasel, though of pro- 
