CAllNARIA. 89 



Skunks are generally striated with white stripes on a black ground, 

 but the number of stripes appears to vary in the same species. The 

 most common species of North America is the 



M. putorius; Viverra putor, Gm. ; Catesb. Carol. II. Ixii. 

 Schreb. CXXII. (The American Skunk — the Fitchet of Pennant). 

 Black, with stripes of white, larger or smaller, and more or less nu- 

 merous ; the tail is black, and the tip white. The odour it produces 

 resembles that of the polecat, mingled with a strong smell of garlic 

 — nothing is more nauseous. 



It would seem that in South America the species most usually 

 encountered has a white tail. The stripes on the back sometimes 

 occupy its whole breadth ; it is the Viverra mephitis, Gm. ; BufF. 

 XIII. xxxix, or the Chinche*. 



We may make a distinct subgenus of the Mydaus, Fred. Cuv. 

 whose teeth, feet, and even colours, are similar to those of the Skunk, 

 but whose truncated muzzle resembles a Hog's snout; the tail being 

 reduced to a small pencil. One species only is known, the 



M. maliceps, Fred. Cuv., and Horsf. Java. (The Teledu). 

 Black ; the nape of the neck, a stripe along the back, and the tail 

 white ; the dorsal stripe sometimes interrupted in the middle ; not 

 surpassed in stench by any of the Skunks (a). 



LuTRA, Storr. 



The Otters have three false molars in each jaw, a strong heel to the 

 superior lacerator, a tubercle on the inner side of the inferior one, and a 

 large tuberculous one above, nearly as long as it is broad. The head is 

 compressed, and the tongue demi-asperate. They are otherwise distin- 

 guished from all the preceding subgenera by palmated feet, and a hori- 

 zontally flattened tail, two characters which render them aquatic. Their 

 food is fish. 



L. vulgaris; Mustela Intra, L. ; BuiF. VIII. xi. (The Common 

 or Greater Otter). Brown above, whitish round the lips, on the 

 cheeks and the whole inferior surface of the body. It is sometimes 

 found spotted and whitish. From the rivers of Europe. 



Several Otters differ but little from the above. That of Carolina, 



• It is better figured, Hist, des Mamniif. of Fred. Cuv. The Chili Skunk, Buff. 

 Supp. VII. pi. Ivii, appears to be a mere badly preserved variety of the same. See 

 my Recherches, Sur. Ossemens Foss. IV. 469. 



i^ (a) All these animals possess an orifice situated below the anus, which is 

 connected with a peculiar gland: this gland secretes the unctuous matter from which 

 the overpowering stench is exhaled; and if we are to believe in the representations 

 of travellers, the secretions of these Skunks must be the most revolting of any fetid 

 exhalation which nature has yet produced. Dogs are instantly stopped in their pur- 

 suit by its emission, and if a man is so unfortunate as, when hunting them, to come 

 in contact with the least particle of the fluid, which, when hard pressed in the chase, 

 they arc able to discharge, the garment so infected can never be used again on ac- 

 count of the impossibility of purifying it from the horrible stench. Molina, .speak- 

 ing of the Chinge of Chili, affirms that the smell of the animals proceeds from a 

 certain greenish oil ejected from a follicle or receptacle near the tail. — Eng. Ed. 



