714 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.xxviii. 



This iuiiinal is to be found alon^" the Anderson and other arctic 

 rivers to the coast, and also throuohout the Dominion of Canada from 

 the Atlantic to the raciric. The sexes come together in March and 

 April, and the female brings forth in due time live or six blind and 

 helpless little ones. I have also been assured that where the food con- 

 ditions are ver}^ ^ood, instances of as many as eight, ten, and even 

 twelve have been observed. In tliis coiuiection I would remark that 

 Indians in different parts of this vast country have asserted that when 

 the several i)eriodical fur-bearing animals are at a minimum stage the 

 births are few, but that these augment annually in number during the 

 seasons of increase. This rather remarkable, but probal)le circum- 

 stance, applies particularly to musquash, martens, minks, ermines, 

 foxes, and skunks. A number of hunters have also said to me that 

 they have sometimes noticed this peculiarity in the case of beaver. 

 All)inos are rare, but the writer has seen a few in the course of his 

 forty years' service. 



SKUNK. 



MepJiitis hudsonica (Richardson). 



I believe that a few straggling individuals have been met with as 

 far noi'th as the Upper Peace, the lower Athabasca, and the Upper 

 Slave rivers, but I never heard of an}^ having been discovered in the 

 Mackenzie River District, or beyond Great Slave Lake. Chief Trader 

 B. R. Ross, however, found the bones and part of the skin of a skunk 

 at a short distance from the south shore of that great inland sea. As 

 already indicated, this is one of the herein-designated "periodic" 

 species. The statement of sales in London rather corroborates this 

 view, although perhaps not in as exact a manner as under martens and 

 minks. First, we have 1,619 skins for 1853, then seven successive 

 "good" years, ranging from the lowest (•1,474 in 1854) to the highest 

 (11,320 in 185(3) for the entire period of twenty-live years. These 

 were followed b}' seven "lean" years (1861 to 1867) with from 1,617 

 for 1865 to 3,758 in 1861. After that three more "good " years, 6,208 

 in 1868, 6,679 in 1869, and 9,606 in 1870. Then we tinish the list with 

 seven poor seasons from 1871 to 1877, varying between 1,322 in 1874 

 and 3,928 in 1877. 1 regret that I am unable to furnish details of 

 the later sales, except for the years 1888, 1902, and 1903, and they con- 

 sisted of 16,322, 5,682 and 5,206 skins, respcctivel^^ There is no 

 record of the trade of even one example of this fur-bearing animal in 

 the Athabasca or Peace River Districts for over thirty years subse- 

 quent to 1858, nor, I believe, previously; but from its former Pvdmon- 

 ton posts to the south some skins have since been obtained. In 1889, 

 Lesser Slave Lake gave 62, Sturgeon Lake 3, Trout Lake 2, and 

 Whitefish Lake 20 skins; P^nglish River District, to the southeast of 

 Athabasca, turned out 461 skins in 1889 and 207 in 1890, most of which 



