222 On Tivo nexo Argentine Forms of Skunk. 



Dimensions of tlie type (measured on skin) : — 



Head and body (e.) 420 mm. ; tail 280. 



Skull : median length 71 ; condylo-basal length 67 ; zygo- 

 matic breadth 44 ; ni^, length 8, breadth S'l (both at right 

 angles to axis of skull). 



Jlah. Western Buenos Ayres Province. Type from Boni- 

 facio. 



Type. Adult male. B.M. no. 17. 9. 15. 1. Collected 

 July 1917, and presented by Cecil Porteous, Esq. Four 

 specimens. 



Mainly distinguishable by the reduction in the breadth and 

 conspicuousness of the white dorsal stripes, these being 

 nearly 2 inches broad in gibsoni, but only about half an inch 

 in pampanus. There are now six specimens oi gibsoni in the 

 Museum and four of the present form. 



Conepatus suffocans niendosns, subsp. n. 



Size rather less than in other forms of sujfocans. 



Fur softer than in true sujfocans, tliough not so soft as in 

 humho/dti. White stripes much reduced, one of the specimens 

 having them almost absent, while in the other they are quite 

 narrow and reach barely halfway down the back. Tail con- 

 spicuously short-haired, the hairs from half an inch to an inch 

 shorter than in suffocans, those at the end barely attaining 

 35 mm. ; the white at the bases of the hairs much reduced, 

 so that scarcely any white can be seen in a general view of 

 the tail, even on the underside. Owing to the comparative 

 shortness of the hairs, the tail itself appears shorter than in 

 suffocans, but the measurements show that the tail-body is of 

 thf. usual length. 



Skull of the usual proportions. 



Dimensions of the type : — 



Head and body 355 mm. ; tail 205 ; bind foot 55 ; 

 ear 22. 



Skull : median length 69 ; condylo-basal length 65 ; zygo- 

 matic breadth 42; m^, length 7*3, breadth S'l (at right angles 

 to axis of skull). 



Hub. Mendoza. Type from Tupungato, 1000 m. Another 

 specimen from the Alvear Colony, San Rafael ( \V. M. 

 JBai/ne). 



Type. Adult male. B.M. no. 21. 7. 5. 3. Original 

 number 1396. Collected 31st March, 1921, by E. Budin. 

 Presented by Oldfield Thomas. 



The much smaller C . proteus occwrs, between this and the 

 true C. suffocans suffocans, the subspecies to which it appears 

 most nearly allied. 



