336 Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol. XL 



meliceps) has the power of ejecting a fetid Hquid hke the Skunks. In 

 early days in England the so-called sport of Badger-baiting or " Drawing 

 the Badger" was popular. A Badger was placed in a barrel and dogs 

 attempted to pull him out. In these contests both dogs and Badger 

 were usually badly bitten and often killed. 



The European Badger (Meles) was well known to ancient writers, 

 and some of their descriptions of it are curious. Writing in 1607 Edward 

 Topsell says,* "He hath verie sharpe teeth, and is therefore accounted 

 a deepe-biting beaste. His back is broad, his legs (as some say) longer 

 on the right side than on the left, and therefore he runneth best when he 

 getteth to the side of a hill, or a cart-road-away." 



KEY TO THE SKUNKS 



WHICH OCCUR IN ILLINOIS OR WISCONSIN, OR WHICH MAY BE 

 LOOKED FOR WITHIN OUR LIMITS. 



GROUP 1. Back usually with two white stripes joining at the shoulder; total length 

 more than 21 inches. 

 Tail vertebrae 9 inches or more in length; tail ending with a blunt brush, end 

 entirely black without white pencil; palate ending with even curve, without 

 median spine; zygomata widely expanded at posterior end and slanting 

 abruptly forward; white stripes of body extending down sides of tail. Occurs 

 from northern edge of Illinois northward throughout Wisconsin. 



HuDSONiAN Skunk, Northern Skunk. 

 Mephitis hudsonica, p. 340. 



Tail vertebrae usually less than 9 inches long; tail usually wholly black, the 

 white stripes of body generally not extending on the sides; end of tail occa- 

 sionally with a white pencil; palate ending with even curve, without median 

 spine; zygomata less widely expanded at posterior end than in hudsonica and 

 with bend less abrupt. Occurs in Illinois and southern Wisconsin. 



Illinois Skunk. Mephitis mephitis avia, p. 344. 



GROUP 2. Back with four broken white stripes; size comparatively small, less than 



21 inches. 



End of tail broadly white; 4 well-marked white stripes on back, the median pair 



narrower than the outer pair. A southern species which is claimed to have 



been taken in southern Illinois. Alleghenian Spotted Skunk. 



Spilogale putorius, p. 346. 



Tail wholly black or with very little white at the tip; general coloration showing 

 much more black than in putorius, the white markings being much smaller 

 and more broken. Has not yet been taken within our limits, but occurs in 

 Iowa and south-eastern Minnesota and may be found in western Wisconsin. 



Prairie Spotted Skunk. 

 Spilogale interrupta, p. 348. 



* Historie of Foure Footed Beastes, London, 1607, p. 34. 



