39 



March 26, 1833. 



Lieut.-Col. Sykes in the Chair. 



Specimens were exhibited of numerousilfa>w»ia/2a recently obtained 

 by the Society from that part of Califomia which adjoins to Mexico, 

 They comprehended several species hitherto apparently undescribed, 

 to -H^liich the attention of the Meeting was particularly called bv 

 Mr. Bennett. ^ 



Mephitis nasuta. Meph. naso pmminente, rhinario supernk pro- 

 ducto ; vellere denso, pilis elongatis,rigidiusculis, setaceis ; plautis 

 omnino nudis. 



Long. corporis cum capite, 16į unc. ; catidte, 54 ; cauda cum pilis, 

 94^; pedis postici, 24. 



By its robust form ; the shortness and strength of its Hrabs ; the 

 greater production of its nose ; the denseness, firmness, and resistance 

 of its strong hairs, and the entire nakedness of its soles, this animal 

 diifers from the Common Skunk of America. In the dried skin exhi- 

 bited the nose extends an Inch beyond the line of the upper incisors, 

 a. hairy space of half an inch in Avidth intervening between the upper 

 lip and the soft muzzle. On its upper surface the muzzle is produced 

 backwards seven eighths of an inch in an elliptical form. The fur 

 of the body is composed of an under coat of crisped fine hairs, and 

 of an outer coat of strong, somewhat rigid hairs, which, however, have 

 little of harshness, although they ofFer to the touch a marked difference 

 in the resistance theyoppose to pressure, as compared with the eąually 

 long but silky and soft hairs of the Common Skunk. The soft feel 

 exists in two specimens, apparently referrible to the latter, -vv^hich are 

 contained in the coUection, and the difference in the ąuality of the 

 fur can therefore scarcely be attributed to locality. This difference is, 

 moreover, combined with characters of form, especially about the 

 nose, which authorize the consideration of the long-nosed Skunk as a 

 distinct species. 



The colouring, which in the genus Mephitis is evidently but little 

 fitted to afford characters on which reliance can be placed, consists, 

 in the individual exhibited, of a single broad white band, extending 

 from behind the eyes along the middle of the back, where it is more 

 dilated, and passing continuously to the tail, the whole of which it 

 occupies : with this exception the entire fur is black. The claws, 

 remarkably strong on the anterior feet, are, as usual, hom-coloured.' 



The hinder tarsi of the Meph. nasuta are destitute of hair on their 

 under surface, and the nakedness extends even beyond the heel. In 

 one of the specimens before alluded to, the hinder third is slightly, 

 and m the other densely, hairy. These may, perhaps, help to fumish 

 specific characters, but -vvithout further and more extensive observation 



