1914] GrinneU: Mammals and Birds of tin Colorado Valley 259 



Spilogale arizonae arizonae Mearns 

 Arizona Spotted Skunk 



We were told of the presence of "hydrophobia" skunks among 

 The Needles, Arizona. Mr. Stephens saw tracks of one in the river 

 bottom on the California side five miles below Needles. The species 

 is certainly not common, or our traps would have given more indica- 

 tion of its presence. The only specimen procured by our party was 

 trapped in the arrowweed belt within one hundred yards of the river, 

 on the California side at our last station, close to Pilot Knob. It is 

 an adult male (no. 10573) with following external measurements 

 by collector (Stephens) : length 440, tail vertebrae 170, hind foot 46, 

 ear 22, weight 18 oz. The cranium measures : basilar length 49.8, 

 zygomatic breadth 36.1, mastoid breadth 30.9, interorbital width 14.4, 

 height of brain-case (as measured by Howell, 1906, p. 37) 17.8. 



I sent this skin-with-skull to the Bureau of Biological Survey, 

 Washington, where Mr. A. H. Howell determined it to be "arizonae 

 but not typical." He further considered it "as grading toward 

 martirensis," which, from its geographical location, is quite to be 

 expected (see Howell, 1906, pp. 29, 30, pi. 1). The present record 

 is the basis of the first assignment of arizonae to Californian territory. 



Taxidea taxus berlandieri Baird 

 Mexican Badger 



While no badgers were secured by our party directly, I purchased 

 a flat skin, with skull, of a young one at the Barber Ranch twenty 

 miles above Picacho. This had been killed on the California side in 

 the autumn of 1909. Badgers were reported as frequently seen in 

 the vicinity of the Draper ranch, eighteen miles north of Picacho, and 

 also on the Arizona side in the neighborhood of Cibola. 



The skin secured (no. 10603) as compared with one of about the 

 same age from Ventura County, California (no. 7078), is very much 

 paler. The individual hairs have longer white tips, and a mid-dorsal 

 white stripe extends from top of nose to rump. In the Ventura County 

 specimen there is a white stripe from tip of nose to between shoulders, 

 only. The skull of no. 10603 is smaller, doubtless due to younger age, 

 but it appears to be also of relatively lighter build. 



