Article XXII. THE GENERIC NAMES OF THE ME- 



PHITIN^E. 



By J. A. ALLEN. 



In Mr. Arthur H. Howell's recent * Revision of the Skunks of 

 the Genus Chincha ' l radical changes are made in the nomenclature 

 of the North American Skunks, which involve a complete over- 

 turning of the generic names of the North American Mephitinae. 

 Chincha Lesson is adopted for the group hitherto known as 

 Mephitis, and Mephitis is transferred to the Little Striped Skunks 

 known of late as the genus Spilogale, the latter name becoming a 

 synonym of Mephitis. As Thiosmus Lichtenstein, 1838, is adopted 

 for the Bare-nosed Skunks of Mexico and the southern border of 

 the United States, Conepatus Gray, 1837, being restricted to the 

 South American species, the hitherto current generic names of 

 all the Skunks found north of Panama are changed. Mr. Howell's 

 paper is in other respects such an admirable piece of work that it 

 is all the more to be regretted that the changes in the generic 

 names affecting Mephitis and Spilogale rest on a faulty basis. 2 



Mr. Howell's reasons for accepting Chincha in place of Mephitis 

 are as follows : 



" Lesson proposed this as the name of a subgenus of Mephitis^ 

 with Chincha americana as the type species ; hudsonica Richardson 

 is given as a variety, but no other species are placed in the group. 

 The references show that his type species is based on Viverra 

 mephitis Erxleben, which in turn is based on V. mephitis Schreber 

 a plainly recognizable species. If we assume (as we can with 

 all propriety) that Cuvier, in placing * Viverra mephitis L.' as one 



1 ' North American Fauna,' No. 20, pp. 1-62, pll. i-viii. Aug. 31, 1901. 



2 At this point, in justice to Mr. Howell, it seems proper to confess my own shortcoming in 

 the matter. When in Washington last April 1 not only learned of the conclusion Mr. Howeli 

 had reached regarding the generic names of the Skunks, but I was consulted as to whether 

 some way could not be devised whereby such a lamentable bouleversment might be avoided. 

 I had then neither the time nor opportunity for a proper investigation of the points at issue, 

 but on returning to New York, I carefully reviewed, by Mr. Howell's request, the pros and 

 cons of the case as then understood. The chief question was whether or not Gray's sections 

 a and b of Mephitis (Charlesworth's Mag. Nat. Hist., I, 1837, P- 581) could be construed as re- 

 stricting Mephitis to the North American large Skunks, on account of his later giving the 

 name Spiloeale to his section b (P. Z. S., 1865, p. 150). I then wrote to Mr. Howell that I saw 

 no escape from the proposed changes involving the terms Mephitis, Chincha, and Spilogale. 

 Unfortunately, however, the real points at issue were wholly overlooked. In posting my MS. 

 card catalogue of American Mammals soon after the publication of Mr. Howell's paper, I was 

 astonished on looking up the various questions of nomenclature involved to find that Chincha 

 of Lesson was a synonym of the restricted genus Mephitis. It seems strange, and is lamenta- 

 ble, that this point should have been previously overlooked by both Mr. Howell and myself. 



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