THE LANCASTER FARMER 



67 



pers. and could only be used as fillers, and 

 I)erhaps were damaged even for that purpose. 



We confess we are at our wit's end to con- 

 ceive of a remedy that would reach this sec- 

 ond, summer brood of the flea-beetle. But^ 



" It will uevcr do to irlvc it up 80," 

 and therefore wo suggest the trial of any and 

 every reasonable thing iu playing for such a 

 st,ake. The following paragraph from the 

 same source, may do no harm, if administered 

 in time. 



"The present is a cood time to destroy in- 

 sects which harbor l)eneath the bark of trees. 

 Scrape off the bark and then wash the trunk 

 aud lower limbs with sIioul; soap suds, or 

 with a solution of potash, or even with lye 

 from wood ashes, but do not use whilowash." 



THE SKUNK. 



( MqMtis americana. ) 



I have at length succeeded in procuring for 

 the Muneum of the Linnasan Society, a local 

 mammal that I have been endeavoring to 

 obtain for fifteen years or more without suc- 

 cess ; not that the animal is at all a rare one 

 in Lancaster county, but that it usually emits 

 such a nauseous odor that no living being, 

 (•i\-ilized or savage, cares about coming in 

 contact'with one of them ; and yet, if advan- 

 tage can be taken of them, they are as in- 

 offensive as a rabbit, and their flesh is said to 

 be far superior to a rabbit's, as food. 

 * Abouttwo weeks ago, two citizens of Martic 

 township called upon me and offered for sale 

 the skin of a "skunk," which they had trapped 

 in a "dead-fall" the night previous, and so 

 sudden had been the capture that the animal 

 was killed before it had time to discharge its 

 fetid liquid. I purchased the skin for a trifle, 

 and placed it in the hands of Mr. George 

 . Hensel, one of our local taxidermists. It is 

 one of our most beautiful animals, but all its 

 beauty is entirely negatived by its repulsive 

 stench. To obtain this specimen, therefore, 

 under these circumstances, was a rare oppor- 

 ttmity that I could not resist, aud especially 

 because of its color aud condition, for many 

 of these animals are a rusty black or brown- 

 ish, and the lighter parts are not so clear a 

 white in color. It is said that these differ- 

 entialities are the bases of various species, to 

 which I will allude farther on. Aud here it 

 may be well to say that the fetid liquid of the 

 skunk is not its urine, as has been commonly 

 supposed, and perhaps is still, by many in- 

 telligent persons, so regarded ; and the idea, 

 also prevalent, that the animal discharges this 

 liquid upon its bushy tail, and thus scatters it 

 abroad, is equally erroneous. This animal 

 has two glands, corresponding to the musk 

 glands of musk animals, but iu the skunk 

 they are located near the inferior extremity 

 of the alimentary canal, and these glands 

 secrete an extremely fetid liquor, which the 

 animal has the power of emittiug at pleasure, 

 as a means of defence, and although a car- 

 nivorous animal, and amply provided with an 

 efticient dental apparattis, it never attempts 

 to defend itself iu any other way — either by 

 "fight or flight." This liquor is said to 

 possess valuable medicinal powers, but its 

 extreme ofifensiveness interferes with its use. 



Whenever it prepares to charge upon its 

 foes, it carefully turns its tail over its back, 

 for it is a scrupulously clean and neat little 

 animal, and will not soil itself with its own 



fetor or anything else. At night the offensive 

 liquor exhibits a phosphorescent light, and it 

 can be discharged from ten to fifteen feet. It 

 is not the stench alone that is to be dreaded, 

 but the liquid is exceedingly acrid, and when 

 discharged into the eyes of its assailant, it 

 produces severe^inflammation, and even blind- 

 ness. 



The term " skunk," is said to be a contrac- 

 tion from Segankii, whatever that may mean. 

 The group of animals including the various 

 species of skunks, is conflned exclusively to 

 North and South America. It is true that 

 in Europe they have an animal that also emits 

 a disagreeable odor, called the "Pole-cat," 

 but this animal belongs to a different genus— 

 Mi(s(ela ptitfiriits — alied to the true weasels. 

 TJie term Pole-ait is said to be a contraction 

 of Poidtry cat, hecmiso. it feeds largely on poul- 

 try : it is also called the fitchew, or fitchel. 

 Pole-cat is also pretty extensively applied to 

 our skunk in Pennsylvnnia. Our common 

 species of the skunk abounds from Hudson's 

 Bay to the plains of Missouri, aud was de.scrihed 

 by Linnseus aud Giueliu under the name of 

 Vivm-a mephitis: and, although several species 

 are described as North American, yet Dr. 

 Godman held that they were all merely varie- 

 ties of the same species. The same author 

 places the skunk in his second Iribe which 

 includes the Dj"y»f''^'"rt<^'''s— a-nimitls walking on 

 their toes — between the weasels and the ot- 

 ters. Other authors place it in a family be- 

 tween the Viverridn- or civets, and the Ursi- 

 dce or bears, and claim that it is more planti- 

 grade than digitigrade— that is, walking on 

 palms, or flatfooted. Desmoulin described it 

 first under the name of Mephitis americana, 

 the significance of the generic term being a 

 foul, offensive or noxious exhalation from de- 

 composing substances, filth or other sources, 

 and the specific term from the fact that it is 

 exclusively an American animal. America 

 therefore enjoys the distinguished honor of 

 possessing the " loudest smelling " quadruped 

 on this planet. Among the early (Spanish, 

 English, French and German) settlers of 

 America, this animal is the "Skunk "and 

 "Polecat" of the English; "Bete puaute " 

 of of the French; "Stinkthier" of the Ger- 

 mans; "Pisskatz" of the Pennsylvania Dutch; 

 "Seecawk" of theCree Indians; "Mapunto" 

 of other tribes; " Mefitismo " of the Italians, 

 and also the same of the Spaniards. 



The French naturalist. BufCou, called it the 

 "C'hincha;" Pennant, the "Skunk- Weasel;" 

 Father Charlevoix, "I'Enfant du Diable "— 

 the child of the devil ; the German natural- 

 ist, Kalm, called it Fiskatta ; so that an ani- 

 mal so able to make its presence manifest, it 

 will be seen, has not been slighted by the 

 absence of a "local habitation and a na«if. " 

 Tenny assigns it to his sub-order Carnivora 

 and family MuslelicUe, placing it generically 

 between the Otters and the Badgers. He 

 also drops the specific name of Amvricnnn and 

 adopts that of Cliinga, or Chincha, of Ticde- 

 man. He also claims four distinct species 

 north of Texas and east of Missouri, namely: 

 Chinga, variaxts, occidentalis and mesokncn. 

 In addition to these species there are the 

 bicolor and meficaiw of Mexico ; the mcsome- 

 las and nasuta of Texas ; the chiknsis and 

 couepnl of Chili ; the zorilla and interruptn of 

 California ; aud the castanea, quitentis, fenillei 



and plusilineatu of South America. Although 

 the skunk is habitually a night prowler, yet 

 when pressed by hunger he will also roam 

 abroad by day— indeed, the only first I ever 

 saw at large, full sixty years ago— I saw about 

 fonr o'clock in the afternoon; but they seem 

 80 be more frequently met with about human 

 habitations during the morning twilight, al- 

 though I have Iwen sensible at other hours of 

 their whereabouts scores of times. They 

 feed on rabbits, mice, frogs, insects, poultry — 

 especially young chickens, and have a great 

 fondness for eggs. It is very seldom that 

 they are included among collections of living 

 animals, on account of their offensive smell, 

 although Cateshy, in his natural history of 

 Florida, states that he saw one domesticated, 

 and that it never had made use of its offen- 

 sive battery. A volume could be written on 

 the encounters of diflerent people with this 

 handsome little animal, in which the assail- 

 ants always had been vanquished. It never 

 moves very rapidly nor makes any special at- 

 tempt to escape, seemingly conscious of its 

 repelling power when pressed too ilosely. 

 Kev. Lyman Beecher states that one oftliese 

 animals once crossed his path as he was taking 

 an evening walk, and not knowing what it 

 w;is, he heaved a volume of the British cyclo- 

 predia at it and struck it; the consequence 

 was that the volume had to be buried, and 

 after remaining for mouths in that condition 

 the effluvia had not diminished. 



A skunk was in the habit of entering a cel- 

 lar in the vicinity of Rochester, New York, 

 through an avenue known only to itself. It 

 had often been seen in the cellar by the mem- 

 bers of the fiimily, but they, being acquainted 

 with its peculiar characteristic, had never 

 alarmed or assailed it. But an uninformed 

 servant maid, recently hired, on going into 

 the cellar on one occasion, commenced au 

 attack as soon as she saw it, with the follow- 

 ing result : The girl had to be carried to bed, 

 where she lay three weeks before she was 

 able to work again ; her clothing had to be 

 buried or burned, and all the butter, cream, 

 milk and meat in the cellar spoiled, and had 

 to bo thrown away. I think it is Hearne who 

 recorded that about Hudson's Bay he saw the 

 Indians cooking and eating the skunk — in- 

 deed, he ate of it himself, and found it excel- 

 lently flavored ;ind tender. He himself helped 

 to kill one, soon after which the place was 

 covered with snow, aud on retui:ning to the 

 same place again the following spring, when 

 the snow had melted away, the odor was 

 quite as strong ivs it had been four months 

 previously. The odor of the skunk is not 

 easily definable, and I suppose Its substance 

 has never been chemically analyzed. The 

 one I saw, to which I have before alluded, 

 was surprised near a "sink hole" in a har- 

 vest field, which had been partially filled up 

 with stones, collected from said field. Two 

 bigger Iwys and an inexperienced dog were iu 

 advance of me in the effort to capture it be- 

 fore it could gain its buiTOW under the stones. 

 The animal, perhaps, saw that it would be 

 intercepted, and immediately opened its bat- 

 tery on its assailants, and the rout Wiis imme- 

 diate and complete. The dog began to root 

 iu the ground, and ran home to the farm 

 house. The foremost boy disgorged a lunch, 

 taken a few moments before, and the re- 



