210 ORDER V. 



Mel. vulgaris. Common Badger. About 2' 5" 

 from nose to tail, tail 8", height at shoulder 1'; 

 head rather long, whitish, with a black streak pass- 

 ing from the nose through the eyes to the ears ; 

 colour in general brownish-ash above, black beneath. 

 We have drawn a specimen as red as a fox ; white 

 beneath, but with the black bars on the face ; five 

 toes, well armed on all the feet ; has the manners 

 of a bear; is solitary in the holes which it digs, 

 coming forth only in the night to feed on fruit and 

 animal substances ; when young is easily tamed ; 

 when attacked, fights obstinately and with great 

 tenacity of life, and therefore is often the miser- 

 able victim of the sport of boys, who learn brutality 

 sometimes under the tuition of those whose educa- 

 tion and position in life should have taught them 

 better. The species extends over all Europe and 

 the north of Western Asia. 



Sub-genus TAXIDIA. Is the Badger of North 

 America, separated from Meles by Mr. Waterhouse, 

 on account of the difference in the greater expansion 

 of the occipital region of the skull, which is also the 

 most elevated : the want of the first false molar of 

 the lower jaw, the greater size of the carnassial, &c. 

 The dentition, therefore, is g, \-\, f - = 32. 



Tax. Labradoria. The Carcajou or American 

 Badger, stands higher on the legs than the common 

 badger. The head is shorter, and the fur being 

 long, full, and rather fine, it appears smaller. In 

 both sexes (we describe from a living pair) the head 

 is white, with a black bar down the jowl from near 



