296 Univfysitij of California PuhVicafions in Zoolof/i/. [Vol.7 



had waiidorecl down the wash to the phiee where a badger had 

 been caught a few days previously. 



The observance of a juvenal coyote June 1 would lead to the 

 conclusion that the young were born several months earlier. The 

 female killed by us showed no signs of breeding. She possessed 

 three pairs of pectoral and two of al)dominal teats. 



Taxidea taxus (Schreber). 

 American Badger. 



Status. — Comparison of skulls of specimens of badgers taken 

 in Nevada with the description of the skull of this species given 

 by Elliot in his Synopsis of North American Mammals (1901, p. 

 320), the original description not being available, shows that they 

 accord fairly well with it in all particulars. Perhaps the most 

 important characters which differentiate it are the width of the 

 occipital region and the degree of development of the lambdoidal 

 and sagittal crests. In the skulls from northern Nevada the occi- 

 pital region is very wide, the lambdoidal ridge is greatly devel- 

 oped, and the sagittal crest but slightly. In one specimen, an 

 adult male (no. 8276), the snout and patch before the ears are 

 dark brown, approaching the seal brown of Ridgway's Nomen- 

 clature of Colors, rather than black as given by Elliot (1901. p. 

 821). This author, by an obvious slip of the pen, refers to the 

 patch behind the ears instead of before or in front of. them, there 

 being no dark patch behind the ears. 



The dimensions of no. 8276 are somewhat less than those 

 given by Coues (1877, p. 261) for this species, which are: Limgth 

 of head and body, twenty-four inches (609 mm.) ; length of tail, 

 six inches (152 mm.) ; length of longest fore-claw, one and five- 

 tenths inches (88 mm.). The same measurements taken of no. 

 8276 are respectively 580 mm., 145, and 80. 



Both our specimens are evidently very old males, for the teeth 

 ai'c vci-y mucli worn, especially in no. 8276. A skull of the Cali- 

 foiiiia badger- Ta.ridea tasus nrfjlecta (no. 7076), collectt'd l)y J. 

 Grinnell at Tujunga Wash, San Fernando Valley, California, 

 differs in tliat the skull is somewhat narrower throughout and is 

 sliglitly iiioi-e restricted in the interorbital region, but, contrary 



