Mamynals of Porter County 213 



Dice nor by Wood as among the mammals of Berrien County, Michigan, 

 though the latter author (6) refers to its occurrence in Washtenaw 

 County, Michigan, as late as 1910. Hahn (4) records it from Jasper 

 and Laporte counties, Indiana, as late as 1903 and 1906. Newspaper 

 accounts in October, 1922, state the presence of wolves, probably this 

 species, in swamps near Leesburg, Kosciusko County. No fragments of 

 coyotes or first hand evidence of their present occurrence in Porter 

 County were obtained. 



Red fox {Vulpes ftilva Desmarest) : This animal is apparently not 

 rare in the dunes though not very frequently seen. Residents state that 

 a small number are obtained each season for their fur. One was seen 

 by my wife October 1, 1922. When we camped in Big Blowout in 

 1921, the tracks of what were apparently those of a fox were found 

 on the slope of the blowout within several yards of our tent and in a 

 comparatively straight line along the fore dune region for about half 

 a mile. During the past summer, not far west of Michigan City, we 

 found a large burrow in a hillside. It was much too large for a wood- 

 chuck's burrow and although no identifiable tracks were found about it, 

 we believed it to be a fox den. 



Raccoon {Procyon lotor Linnaeus) : Residents state that a few 

 "coons" are taken each season for their fur. I have no personal knowl- 

 edge of the animal and I have never been fortunate enough to find foot 

 prints that might have been made by it. 



Weasel (Mustela noveboo-acensis Emmons) : These animals are 

 fairly common in the region, though I have never seen any. Mr. A. E. 

 Didelot who has trapped about 200 specimens of weasels in the past 

 three winters in the region of the dunes and near Chesterton, says that 

 only two of that number were in white pelage. In Washtenaw County, 

 Michigan, Wood (5) says only about 75 per cent of the weasels change 

 to the white coat in winter. The percentage of those changing in north- 

 ern Indiana appears to be much smaller. 



Mink (Mustela vison Schreber) : A number of minks are said to 

 be trapped each season in the region. One dead specimen was collected 

 on the bottom of a dried interdunal pond in a spot which had been cov- 

 ered with water two weeks before. The body gave the impression of not 

 having been dead for more than a week or ten days. 



Eastern skunk (Mephitis nigra Peale and Beauvois) : Skunks are 

 fairly common in the region and a number are taken each season for 

 fur. By November 30, 1922, R. W. Sabinske had taken -even. He gave 

 me two carcasses that he had not yet thrown away. They were covered 

 with an enormously thick layer of fat. Their stomachs contained un- 

 identifiable ground up material and a few small roundworms. His skins 

 were all turned inside out, but he said they ranged in color from solid 

 black except for a white patch on head to a specimen in which white 

 predominated. There seems to have been some doubt as to the identity 

 of the skunk in the dunes. Dice (2) uses Mephitis yiigra for the animal 

 of Berrien County, Michigan. Hahn (4) thinks the eastern skunk is 

 one commonly found in the state, but in speaking of the Illinois skunk. 

 Mephitis mesomelas aria, he says "It is very probable that this is the 



