66 Allen Generic Names of the Mephitince. 



pate is mainly Kalm while V. putorius is mainly Catesby. The 

 Kalm element is therefore the saving feature in each case; 

 but if putida from Cuvier cannot be used for the skunk of 

 eastern Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, neither can putida from 

 Boitard be used for it, on account of the prior use of the name 

 in the same genus (i. e., Mephitis) by Cuvier. It may, however, 

 be well to throw out putida as untenable, on accounts of its 

 composite, very slight and wholly unsatisfactory basis. 



From the foregoing it is evident that I recede in no essential 

 point from any of the positions assumed in my first paper, and 

 that consequently I accept none of Mr. Howell's conclusions as 

 formally stated by him in the summary at the close of his paper. 

 They all depend, as said at the beginning of this article, upon 

 the acceptance of the much discussed Catesby plate as a satis- 

 factorily identifiable figure of the North Carolina Spilogale. 

 With Mr. Howell's plate before them, I think few mammalog- 

 ists will be able to agree with Mr. Howell on this point. 



