MCSTELIDJ:. MAMMALIA. MUSTELID.E. 



87 



but most of them appear referable to this species. The 

 true skunks are confined to the American coutinent. 

 Accepting Sir John Richardson's description, the skunk 

 very closely resembles the wolverene. The body is 

 stoutish, and stands low ; the eyes being small, and 

 the ears short and rounded. " 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 continues so until it passes the shoulders, when it 

 forks, the branches running along the sides, and becom- 

 ing 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 

 haire, and has generally two broad longitudinal white 

 stripes above on a black ground. Sometimes the black 

 and white colours of the tail are regularly 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 the martens." The jaws are provided 

 with eighteen molar teeth, the upper laniary grinder 

 being remarkably large. Respecting the habits of the 

 skunk, which has obtained such notoriety on account 

 of the nauseating smell emitted from the glands previ- 

 ously alluded to, the same distinguished naturalist 

 writes : " It exists in the rocky and woody parts of 

 the country, but is still more frequent in the clumps of 

 wood which sketch the sandy plains of Seskatchewan. 

 I have not been able to ascertain the southern range 

 of this variety of skunk [from Hudson's Bay] ; and, 

 judging from Kahn's description, there appears to be a 

 different one in Canada. The skunk passes its winter 

 in a hole, seldom stirring abroad, and then only for a 

 short distance. It preys on mice, and in summer has 

 been observed to feed much on frogs. It has a slow 

 gait, and can be overtaken without difficulty, for it 

 makes but a poor attempt to escape, putting its trust 

 apparently in its power of discomfiting its pursuers by 

 the discharge of a noisome fluid. This fluid, which is 

 of a deep yellow colour, and is contained in a small 

 bag placed at the root of the tail, emits one of the most 

 powerful stenches in nature, and so durable that the 

 spot where a skunk has been killed will retain the 

 taint for many days. Mr. Graham says that he knew 

 several Indians who lost their eyesight in consequence 

 of inflammation produced by this fluid having been 

 thrown into them by the animal, which has the power 

 of ejecting it to a distance of upwards of four feet. I 

 have known a dead skunk thrown over the stockades 

 of a trading port, which produced instant nausea in 

 several women, in a house with closed doors upwards 

 of a hundred yards distant. The odour had some 

 resemblance to that of garlic, although much more 

 disagreeable. One may, however, soon become fami- 

 liarized with it; for, notwithstanding the disgust it 

 produces 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 the carcase with any of 



the strong smelling fluid, the meat is considered by the 

 natives to be excellent food." These observations 

 agree for the most part with those of Catesby, who 

 says : " When one of them is attacked by a dog, to 

 appear formidable it so changes its usual form, by 

 bristling up its hairs and contracting its length into a 

 round form, that it makes a very terrible appearance. 

 This menacing behaviour, however insufficient to deter 

 its enemy, is seconded by a repulse far more prevail- 

 ing ; for from some secret duct it emits such fetid 

 effluvia that the atmosphere, for a large space around, 

 shall be so infected with it 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 more to do with such 

 noisome game, which for four or five hours distracts 

 them. The Indians, notwithstanding, esteem their 

 flesh a dainty, of which I have eaten and found it well 

 tasted. I have known them brought up young, made 

 domestic, and prove tame and very active, without 

 exercising that faculty which fear and self-preservation 

 perhaps only prompt them to." Like its congeners, 

 the skunk does not entirely confine itself to an animal 

 diet, vegetable matters, especially fruit, being sought in 

 the absence of small quadrupeds, frogs, and insects. 

 The female produces from six to ten young at a birth. 

 In the Catalogue of Mammalia preserved in the British 

 Museum, this species is called by Dr. Gray Mephitis 

 varians. 



THE GBISON (Galictis vittata). The members of 

 the genus Galictis originally established by Mr. Bell, 

 are characterized by the possession of eighteen molar 

 teeth, of which ten are spurious, four of them belonging 

 to the upper series and six to the lower. The body is 

 much elongated, terminating in sub-plantigrade penta- 

 dactylous feet, their palms and soles being naked. The 

 tail is of moderate length. In the species under con- 

 sideration " the colours are very remarkable, and the 

 markings distinct and decided (fig. 23). The whole of 

 the upper part of the head, the neck, the back, the flank, 

 and the tail, are yellowish-light or brownish-grey, pro- 

 duced by the mixture of a dirty yellowish-white with 

 brownish-black for about two-thirds of their length ; 

 the tip, dirty or yellowish-white. The muzzle, the 

 cheeks, the throat, the under part of the neck, the 

 belly, the anterior legs, and the hinder feet, are black, 

 with a brownish tinge lighter towards the back part, 

 and on the belly interspersed with a few whitish hairs. 

 The grey of the upper, and the black of the under 

 parts, are separated by a rather broad fascia (or band), 

 extending on each side from the centre of the forehead 

 above the eye, backwards as far as the shoulder, 

 including the ears ; this fascia is of a buff or yellowish- 

 white colour." Respecting its habits, Mr. Bell also 

 records the following interesting particulars. In his 

 " History of British Quadrupeds," he says : " A tame 

 grison (Galictis vittata) which I possessed for several 

 years, was very fond of frogs, but these were not the 

 only reptiles which were obnoxious to its voracity. On 

 one occasion, in the winter, I had placed it in its cage, 

 in a room with a fire, where I had also two young 



