1865.] DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE MUSTELID&. 147 
Marputius chilensis, Gray, Mag. Nat. Hist. 1837, i. B.M. 
flab. Chili (Bridges, B.M.); Magellan Straits (King, B.M.). 
Buffon’s figure represents the tail too long and broad ; it is a sub- 
cylindric tuft only, not so long as the body without the head. 
Var. 4. lichtensteinii. Black; crown and nape with a broad 
white blotch, separated behind into two narrow nearly parallel white 
streaks on the middle of the back, reaching nearly to the loins ; tail- 
end half white. 
Hab. Tropical America. 
This specimen is much distorted in stuffing; the tail is elongated 
by the stretching out of the hinder part of the body, so as to make 
it look like a Mephitis, for which the stuffer evidently mistook it. 
From the examination of the stuffed and unstuffed skins, I have 
considered all the specimens we have in the British Museum to be 
varieties, because the differences in the coloration appear to pass into 
one another ; but when we have the power to compare the living 
animal and the skeleton of each, we may discover that some of them 
are distinct species, having a peculiar geographical range. 
Professor Lichtenstein notices another species, under the name of 
M. gumilla, on the authority of a notice of Skunk called “‘ Maskutio”’ 
and “ Mafutiliqui”’ in Gumilla’s ‘Orimoko’ (vol. ii. p. 276), which is 
said to have many decurrent streaks and a villous tail. 
24, Mepuiris. 
Nose short, underside hairy, with a distinct central groove; muz- 
zle small; ears ovate, hairy, exposed. Hind feet moderate, subplan- 
tigrade ; sole bald nearly or quite to the heel, the front portion di- 
vided into three large pads, placed in an arch; front claws elongate, 
arched, strong, white. Tail elongate, as long as, or longer than the 
body, with long, flaccid, dependent hair. Skull ovate; orbit incom- 
plete. Teeth 34; false grinders 2/3; upper tubercular grinder small, 
moderate-sized. 
Mephitis, § 1, Gray, Mag. N. H. 1837; List Mamm. B. M. xxi. 69. 
Mephitis (partly), Cuvier. 
Mephitis, § 1 (partly), Lichtenstein. 
“The fcetid liquid is secreted by two glands, which empty directly 
into the rectum, and are enveloped in a thick muscular membrane, the 
contraction of which causes the ejection of the fluid to a considerable 
distance ; it is said, however, to be restrained by holding the animal 
up by the tail when first discharged ; it is said to be phosphorescent 
at night.”—Baird, Mamm.N.A.191. See also “ Anal Pouches of 
the Mephitis americana,’ Warren, Proc. Boston Soc. N. H. ii. 175, 
1850 ;, Wyman, Proc. Boston Soc. N. H. 1844, p. 110. 
Prof. Lichtenstein divides this into two subgenera—“ planta pilosa”’ 
for M. mesomelas, and ‘planta subnuda”’ for MZ. chinga and the 
' other species. I find the extent of the baldness of the sole varies in 
the different specimens of the same variety, both in the young and 
old specimens. The form and number of the pads are always alike, - 
only becoming more marked in the older examples. 
