674 THE CARNIVORES 



American badger fur is of some value, and is at times largely used 

 for robes, muffs, tippets, and trimmings; while a considerable quantity 

 of the long hairs are employed in the manufacture of shaving and other brushes, al- 

 though in many cases the hairs are too soft for this purpose. In 1873 the prices of 

 American badger skins varied from twenty-five cents to one dollar and seventy-five 

 cents each in London; while three years later the price per skin for the best sam- 

 ples in New York was one dollar. At the present time, according to Mr. Poland, 

 the price in London varies from one dollar and fifty cents to five dollars. 



THE COMMON BADGER 

 Genus Meles 



The common badger (Meles taxus] is the best-known member of a group of 

 five closely-allied species distributed over a considerable portion of Europe and 

 Asia, although unknown in the Indian and Malayan regions. All these animals are 

 readily distinguished from the American badger by the characteristics of the skull 



SKELETON OF THE COMMON BADGER. 



and teeth. The skull itself is characterized by the great height of the bony ridge 

 running along the middle of the brain case, and affording attachment for the power- 

 ful muscles which render the badger's bite so severe. Then, again, the upper 

 molar tooth, instead of being triangular and of nearly the same size as the flesh- 

 tooth, is oblong in form, and very much larger than the latter, recalling in this re- 

 spect the corresponding tooth of the bears; a further analogy with that group being 

 presented by the small size of the first three premolar teeth. Another feature in 

 which the true badgers differ from the American badger is to be found in the great 

 development of the posterior heel of the lower flesh-tooth, which exceeds in length the 

 whole of the remainder of the tooth, this expanded heel having to bite against the en- 

 larged upper molar tooth. The skull of the badger is also peculiar on account of the 

 close interlocking of the lower jaw with the skull proper, the articulation being so per- 

 fect that it is impracticable to detach the one from the other without fracture. Need- 

 less to say, it is, therefore, impossible for one of these animals to dislocate its lower jaw. 

 In general bodily conformation the Old- World badgers very closely resemble 

 their transatlantic ally; and their hairs are similarly banded with different colors, 

 producing the well-known grizzled hue of the fur so characteristic of all these 



