1017 



MUSTELID^E. 



MUSTELID^E. 



1018 



Richardson: "The Skunk is low on its legs, with a broad fleshy 

 body, white forehead, and the general aspect rather of a Wolverene 

 than of a Marten ; eyes small ; ears short and round. A narrow 

 white mesial line runs from the tip of the nose to the occiput, where 

 it dilates into a broad white mark. It is again narrowed, and con- 

 tinues so until it passes the shoulders, when it forks, the branches 

 running along the sides, and becoming much broader as they recede 

 from each other. They approach posteriorly, and unite on the rump, 

 becoming at the same time narrower. In some few specimens the 

 white stripes do not unite behind, but disappear on the flanks. The 

 black dorsal space included by the stripes is egg-shaped, the narrow 

 end of which is towards the shoulders. The sides of the head and 

 all the under parts are black. The hair on the body is long. The tail 

 is covered with very long hair, and has generally two broad longi- 

 tudinal white stripes above on a black ground. Sometimes the 

 colours of the tail are irregularly mixed ; its under surface is black. 

 The claws on the fore feet are very strong and long, being fitted 

 for digging, and very unlike those of martens." (' Fauna Boreali- 

 Americana.') 



This is the Seecawk of the Cree Indians. 



Hudson's Bay Skunk (Mephitis Americana}. 



The author last quoted states that the Skunk is not an uncommon 

 animal in the district it inhabits, which does not, he believes, extend 

 to the north of 56" or 57 N. lat. It is found in the rocky and woody 

 part* of the country, but is still more frequent in the clumps of wood 

 skirting the sandy plains of the Saskatchewan. Sir John Richardson 

 had not been able to ascertain the southern range of this variety of 

 Skunk, and he adds that, judging from Kalm's description, there 

 appears to be a different one in Canada. 



The Skunk lays itself up in a hole for the winter, seldom going 

 abroad at that season, and then for a short distance only. Mice and 

 frogs in summer are its principal prey. It has from six to ten young 

 at a litter, and is said to breed but once a year. 



Unlike the more agile weasels, the Skunk is slow in its motions, 

 and consequently easily overtaken. Its defence consists of a most 

 fetid discharge, which is described as absolutely intolerable when it 

 comes upon the nose by surprise. Lawson says : " Polecats, or 

 Skunks, in America are different from those in Europe. They are 

 thicker and of a great many colours ; not all alike, but each differing 

 from another in a particular colour. They smell like a fox, but ten 

 times stronger. When a dog encounters them they make urine, 

 and he will not be sweet again in a fortnight or more. The Indians 

 love to eat their flesh, which has no manner of ill smell, when the 

 bladder is out. I know no use their furs are put to. They are easily 

 brought up tame." Professor Kalm was almost suffocated by one that 

 was chaced into a house where he slept: the very cattle bellowed 

 through distress at the stench. Another that was killed by a maid- 

 servant in a cellar so overpowered her that she lay ill several days : 

 the provisions in the place were so tainted that the owner was obliged 

 to throw them away. Catesby says : " When one of them is attacked 

 by a dog, to appear formidable it so changes its usual form, by brat- 

 ling up iU hairs and contracting its length into a round form, that 

 it makes a very terrible appearance. This menacing behaviour how- 

 ever, insufficient to deter its enemy, is seconded by a repulse far more 

 prevailing; for from some secret duct it emits such fetid effluviums 

 that the atmosphere for a large space round shall be so infected with 

 them that men and other animals are impatient till they are quit of it 

 The stench is insupportable to some dogs, and necessitates them to let 

 their game escape ; others, by thrusting their noses into the earth 



renew their attacks till they have killed it ; but rarely care to have 

 nore to do with such noisome game, which for four or five hours dis- 

 iracts them. The Indians notwithstanding esteem their flesh a dainty; 

 of which I have eaten, and found it well tasted. I have known them 

 >rought up young, made domestic, and prove tame and very active, 

 without exercising that faculty which fear and self-preservation perhaps 

 only prompts them to. They hide themselves in hollow trees and 

 rocks, and are found in most of the northern continent of America. 

 Their food is insects and wild fruit." (Carolina.) Sir John Richard- 

 son states that the noisome fluid which it discharges is of a deep- 

 rellow colour, and contained in a small bag placed at the root of the 

 ail. It is, he says, one of the most powerful stenches in nature ; and 

 so durable that the spot where a Skunk has been killed will retain 

 ;he taint for many days. He quotes Graham for the fact that several 

 [ndians lost their eye-sight in consequence of inflammation produced 

 3y this fluid having been thrown into them by the animal, which has 

 ;he power of ejecting it to the distance of upwards of four feet. '* I 

 lave known," says Sir John Richardson, in continuation, " a dead 

 Skunk, thrown over the stockades of a trading post, produce instant 

 nausea in several women in a house with closed doors upwards of a 

 lundred yards distant. The odour has some resemblance to that of 

 ;arlic, although much more disagreeable. One may however soon 

 jecome familiarised with it ; for, notwithstanding the disgust it pro- 

 duces at first, I have managed to skin a couple of recent specimens by 

 recurring to the task at intervals. When care is taken not to soil 

 ;he carcass with any of the strong-smelling fluid, the meat is considered 

 ay the natives to be excellent food." 



We have above adverted to the number of so-called species of 

 Mephitis. Cuvier was of opinion that our knowledge did not justify 

 us in considering them as more than varieties of a single species, and 

 lie enumerated 15 such varieties. Sir John Richardson says upon this 

 point : " I have now seen a considerable number of specimens killed 

 to the north of the Great Lakes, none of which presented any important 

 deviation in their markings from the one principally referred to in the 

 description. M. Desmarest remarks that the varieties (if they are to 

 be considered as such, and not as species) are, for the most part, suffi- 

 ciently uniform in the same district of country in the disposition of 

 the stripes. The Hudson Bay variety however comes nearest to the 

 description of the Chinche of Buffon ; the Viverra Mephitis of Gmelin, 

 which is said to be an inhabitant of Chili. The Fiskutta or Skunk of 

 Kalm, which inhabits Canada, has a white dorsal line in addition to 

 two lateral ones." (' Fauna Boreali-Americana.') 



In the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, Nos. 

 2140 to 2144 of the ' Physiological Series' (both inclusive) present 

 instructive preparations of the anal bags, glands, and follicles, of the 

 Ferret; of the Zorille (Putorius zorilla, Cuv.) ; of the Marten (Mustela 

 Maries) ; of the Javanese Skunk (Myduws meliceps) ; and of a Skunk. 

 (See ' Cat.,' vol. iii. part 2.) 



The following is a list of the species of Mustelidce in the British 

 Museum : 



Maries Abietum (Ray), the Pine Marten. England. 



M. lewopui, the American Sable. North America. 



M. Foina (Gray), the Beech Marten. England. 



M. melanopus, the Japanese Sable. Japan. 



M. Canadensii, the Pekan, or Wood Shock. North America. 



M. fiavigida (Hodgson), the White-Cheeked Weasel. India. 



Putorius fcetidua, the Polecat. Europe. 



P. Sarmaticui (Gray), the Vomela, or Peregusna. Siberia. 



Vieon Lutreola, the Nurik, or Nurek Vison. North America. 



Muatela vulgaris (Brisson), the Weasel. England. 



M. penata (Licht.), the Black-Faced Weasel. Mexico. 



M. Erminea (Linnaeus), the Stoat, and Ermine. Europe and North 

 America. 



M. xanthogenys (Gray), The Yellow-Cheeked Weasel. California. 



M. Sibirica (Pallas), the Chorok. Siberia. 



M. Hodgionii (Gray), Hodgson's Weasel. India. 



M. Oathia (Hodgson), the Cathia. Nepaul. 



M. alpina (Fischer), the Altaic Weasel. Altai Mountains. 



M. Horsfieldii (Gray), Horsfield's Weasel. India. 



M. subhemachalana, the Nepaul Weasel. Nepaul. 



Zorilla st-nata, the Zorille. Cape of Good Hope. 



Galera barbara, the Tayra. Tropical America. 



Qrissonia vittata, the Orison, or Huron. Brazil. 



Mdlmrna Ratel, the Ratel, or Bharsiah. Cape of Good Hope. 



Gvlo luscua, the Wolverene. Europe and North America. 



Hdictii moschata (Gray), the Helictis. China. 



//. Nipalensis, the Nepaul Helictis. Nepaul. 



Mephitis variant (Gray), the Skunk. North America. 



Conepatus Amazonica (C. Humboldt), the Maikel. Straits of 

 Magalhaens. 



C. ffumboldlii (Gray), the Patagonian Maikel. South America. 



Mydaus meliceps (F. Cuvier), the Stinkard, or Teledu. Java. 



Arctonyx coUaris (F. Cuvier), the Balisaur, or Sand-Bear. India. 

 Taxus Meles (Linncous), the Badger. England. 

 Taxidea Labradoria (Waterhouse), the Brairo, or Lacyotl. Western 

 America. 



Latu.cina mollit, the American Otter. North America. 



