19 e NATURAL HISTORY. 



lived on good terms with the Racoon, Grey Fox, Prairie Wolf, and a dozen other species of animals. 

 He was said to be active and playful at night, but he seemed rather dull during the day, usually lying 

 rolled up like a ball, with his head under his body for hours at a time." 



THE TELEDU.* 



This animal, sometimes called the " stinking Badger," is found only in Java and Sumatra, and 

 in those islands only on mountains having an elevation of more than 7,000 feet above the sea. 

 It is a little more than a foot long ; has a pig-like head, a stout body, very short legs, and a stumpy 

 tail, not more than an inch long. The feet are plantigrade. It is of a dark brown colour, with the 

 exception of a white band running along its back. But one of its chief characteristics is its power of 

 ejecting, from its tail-glands, a .volatile fluid, the odour of which is said to be even as bad as that of 

 the Skunk. 



The Teledu lives in burrows during the day, and comes out at night to seek its food, which 

 consists chiefly of earth-worms, insects, and their larvae. 



THE CAPE ZORILLA.f 



An ally both of the Skunks and Badgers, the Zorilla may be said to take the place of the former 

 animals in Africa, through the whole of which continent it extends, reaching also into Asia Minor. 

 The body, which attains a length of about a foot, is moderately stout, of a shining black ground- 

 colour, and mai'ked with white bands and spots. The snout is elongated like that of the South 

 American Skunk (vide infra) ; the tail is bushy, about eight or nine inches long, and striped or spotted. 



The Zorilla lives upon small mammals, birds, and their eggs, as well as amphibia and Crustacea. 

 It is a determined enemy to poultry, and entails great loss to the inhabitants of the districts where it 

 is found, but is often tamed, and used to catch Rats and Mice. In the matter of scent, the secretion 

 in its tail-glands is worthy of comparison with that of the Skunk itself. 



An allied form is the Indian genus Hellctis, a Weasel-like animal with a long body, and of a grey- 

 brown colour, white underneath, and marked along the back with a white stripe. The tail is long and 

 bushy. This animal is found from Nepaul to Java in the south, and Formosa in the east. 



THE COMMON SKUNK.: 



This notorious American species is a stoutly-built animal, with short legs, a long conical 

 head with a truncated snout, and a long bushy tail. The general colour of the fur is black, or nearly 

 so, but on the forehead there is a white streak, and on the neck a white patch, from which two broad 

 bands of the same hue proceed backwards along the upper surface of the body. The length from tip 

 of snout to root of tail is something over a foot ; the tail itself is less than a foot in length. The 

 general appearance of the animal is decidedly Badger-like ; it has, in fact, a good deal of resemblance 

 both to the Ratel and to the Teledu. As in the Weasel, Ermine, and Polecat, there is one molar on 

 ach side of the upper, two on each side the lower jaw ; altogether there are thirty-four teeth. It 

 occurs throughout the whole of the temperate portion of North America. 



We have mentioned that several of the Weasel family enjoy the distinction of being able to eject 

 a foul-smelling fluid from glands at the root of the tail. In this accomplishment the Skunk is the 

 undoubted chief. It can eject its perfume to a considerable distance, and with unerring aim : and the 

 smell ! The " odour of mingled guano and Polecat," which, according to Mr. Kingsley, distinguishes the 

 ancient Cornish dainty squab-pie, is simply nothing in comparison with the horrible stench emitted by 

 this little animal. It is so durable, that the spot where a Skunk has been killed will often retain 

 the scent for days, or even weeks ; indeed, Audubon relates that at one place where a Skunk had been 

 killed in the autumn, the odour was quite perceptible in the following spring after the snow had melted. 

 Olothes defiled with the secretion cannot be thoroughly cleansed by any ordinary means : for even if 

 the scent seems to have disappeared, it will make itself evident every time the wearer goes near a fire, 



Mydaus melicept. f Ictonyx zorilla. J Mephitis mephitica. 



