1901.] Allen, Generic Names of the Mephtiince. 3 2 7 



hand from a confused recollection of these two animals, and 

 hence factitious. His figure has been copied time and again by 

 later compilers, who have accompanied it by descriptions obvi- 

 ously based on the figure rather than on anything in nature. Even 

 Kahn, who knew personally the skunks of Pennsylvania and the 

 country thence northward, seems to have taken his account of its 

 external features mainly from Catesby's figure. His general 

 account of the animal was obviously based only slightly on per- 

 sonal observation, and mainly on information derived from the 

 people among whom he lived or travelled ; it of course relates to 

 the common large skunk of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and per- 

 haps New York, as he was apparently never within several hun- 

 dred miles of the region of Spilogale. The Viverra putorius of 

 Schreber, Erxleben, and Gmelin, and the ' Striated Weesel ' of 

 Pennant all have practically the same basis, namely, Catesby and 

 Kalm. 



Cuvier's * Conepate,' there is every reason to believe, is * le 

 conepate ' of Buffon (Hist. Nat., XIII, 293), who first employed 

 the name in a technical sense. Buffon says : " Le conepate a sur 

 un fond de poil noir cinque bandes blanches qui s'etendent 

 longitudinalement de la tete a la queue." In a footnote he gives 

 a long extract from Kalm, and cites no other author. Cuvier's 

 diagnosis is practically identical with Buffon's, and Gmelin's is 

 not materially different, all being based primarily on Catesby 

 and Kalm. Kalm identified his animal with that described and 

 figured by Catesby, and says : " Dr. Linnaeus calls it Viverra 

 putorius" Thus Cuvier's Conepate which he here names 

 Mustela putida, and identifies with Linnaeus's Viverra putorius 

 is, there is every reason to suppose, the animal so called by Buffon, 

 namely, the common skunk of eastern Pennsylvania described 

 by Kalm, and not a species of Spilogale. 



Cuvier's second species of Mouffette is * le chinche,' his short 

 diagnosis being obviously based on Me chinche' of Buffon. 

 Although he refers to it as found throughout America, his only 

 reference is to Fueillee, who describes a skunk from southern 

 South America, and hence a species of Conepatus. Buffon's figure 

 and brief diagnosis (Hist. Nat, XIII, p. 294 and pi. xxxix), and 

 Daubenton's description (/. <:., p. 300), however, appear to have 

 been based on a North American specimen of true Mephitis, as 



