FLESH-EATING MAMMALS. 79 



would be very pungent. The smell is said to be a good remedio for the 

 headache." Although skunks are essentially nocturnal animals, they may 

 occasionally be seen walking about on the open Argentine pampas in broad 

 daylight. 



The next group of the sub-family includes the badgers, of which there are 

 likewise several genera, none of which are found in South America. Of 

 these the sand-badgers ( A rctonyx\ of the Oriental countries, 

 form a genus characterised by having 38 teeth, of which the Badgers, 

 lower incisors project forwards, the anterior premolars are 

 often rudimental or wanting, and the upper molar is much larger than the 

 carnassial, and longer than broad. The naked mobile snout is pig -like, the ears 

 are minute and rounded, the eyes small, the feet digitigrade when walking, 

 the tail moderately long and tapering, and the fur bristly, with a soft under- 

 f ur. The Indian species is rather larger than the ordinary badger. Nearly 

 allied is the Malayan badger (Mydaus meliceps), from Java, Sumatra, and 

 Borneo, which is a small burrowing animal, distinguished from the last by 

 the nostrils being inferior, instead of terminal in position, and by the 

 extreme shortness of the tail, which is clothed with rather long bushy hair. 

 In the true badgers (Meles) the number of the teeth is also 38, but the first 

 premolar in each jaw is minute, and often shed at an early age, while the 

 very large upper molar is quadrangular, as broad as long, and much surpass- 

 ing the carnassial in size. Moreover, the lower law is so firmly articulated 

 to the skull that it cannot be separated without fracture. The skull differs 

 from that of the sand-badgers, and thereby resembles the Malayan badger, 

 in that its bony palate is only produced a comparatively short distance 

 behind the last pair of teeth. The muzzle is pointed, the body stout and 

 broad, the ears and tail very short, and the limbs short and strong, with 

 partially plantigrade feet. The coloration of the common badger is too well 

 known to need description. The genus includes only a few species, 

 which are confined to Europe and Asia north of the Himalaya, one kind 

 inhabiting Persia and another Japan. Badgers are nocturnal, omnivorous, 

 and burrowing animals, producing three or four blind young at a birth. In 

 North America the group is represented by the American badgers ( Taxidea), 

 in which the first upper premolar appears to be always wanting, and the 

 upper carnassial is nearly as large as the molar, and the tubercular heel of 

 the lower carnassial relatively 

 smaller than in the Old World 

 badgers. The stout body is de- 

 pressed, and the tail very short. 

 Nearly allied to the badgers are 

 the ratels (Mellivora) of India and 

 Africa south of the Sahara, which 

 differ from all other members of 

 the family in having but a single 

 pair of lower molars, and are fur- 

 ther distinguished by the limbs 

 and under surface of the body Fig. 49. COMMON BADGER. 



being black, while the upper-parts 



are greyish. In this genus the upper carnassial is a large tooth, with its inner 

 tubercle at the front end, as in the remaining genera of the sub-family ; the 

 upper molar being short from back to front, with its inner portion much 

 expanded. In the lower carnassial the posterior heel is very minute. Ex- 



