CARN IVO1JA. 63 



One of them, the White Vison of the furriers, Mus. leutreocephala, Harl., 

 has as hairy feet and almost as soft a fur as the Sable, but is of a light fawn 

 colour, and almost white about the head. 



That which we call the Pekan (Must. Canadensis, Gmelin), and which comes 

 from Canada and the United States, is of a brownish colour, mixed with 

 white on the head, neck, shoulders and top of the back ; nose, crupper, tail and 

 limbs blackish. 



MEPHITIS, Cuvier. 



The Skunk, like the Polecat, has two false molars above and three below, 

 but the superior tuberculous one is very large, and as long as it is broad, and 

 the inferior carnivorous has two tubercles on its internal side, circumstances 

 which ally it to the Badger just as the Polecat approximates to the Orison and 

 Glutton. Independently of this, the anterior nails of the Skunk, like those of 

 the Badger, are long and fitted for digging ; they are moreover semi-planti- 

 grade, and the resemblance extends even to the distribution of their colours. 

 The whole family are remarkable for their foetid exhalations, but the Skunk is 

 pre-eminently distinguished by its most horrible and suffocating stench. 



Skunks are generally marked with white stripes on a black ground, but the 

 number of stripes appear to vary in the same species. The most common 

 species of North America is the 



M. putorius. (The American Skunk.) Black, with stripes of white, larger 

 or smaller, and more or less numerous ; 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. 



We may make a sub-genus of the My dace, F. Cuvier, whose teeth, feet, and 

 colour are similar to the skunk, but whose truncated muzzle resembles the 

 hog's snout. One species only is known, M- meliceps, F. Cuvier, which is 

 black, with a strip along the back, and a white tail. 



LUTRA, Storr. 



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

 carnivorous, a tuberculous on the inner side of the inferior one, and a large 

 tuberculous tooth above that is nearly as long as it is broad. The head ia 

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

 from all the preceding sub-genera by palmated feet, and a horizontally 

 flattened tail, two characters which render them aquatic. Their food is fish. 



Li. vulgaris. ( The Common 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 (L. lataxina, 

 Fr. Cuvier) becomes a little larger, is sometimes more deeply coloured, and has 

 a brownish tint beneath; very frequently, however, there is no difference even 

 in shades of colour. 



* No two individuals of this species are found alike, being sometimes wholly white, or 

 the reverse Ei>. 



