298 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



every animal, those of their own species only excepted. 

 Such extraordinary powers of defence seem the more unac- 

 countable, when it is considered, that the predacious habits 

 of these animals, in common with the Weasels in general, 

 seem rather to demand means and weapons for offensive 

 operations, with which, indeed, they are otherwise well 

 provided, than so strange a protection against the attacks 

 of others. Timidity of disposition, accompanied with cele- 

 rity of motion, afford a frequently availing defence to many 

 of the herbivorous animals against their natural enemies ; 

 but it is not apparent why extraordinary powers, for mere 

 self-preservation, should be granted to animals, whose ex- 

 istence depends on their capability of overcoming and de- 

 stroying others ; and it does not appear that they actually 

 capture or destroy their prey by means of their vapour, but 

 merely call it into action when irritated, or attacked, simply 

 in self-defence. 



It is scarcely possible to discover, from books, how many 

 species of the mephitic Weasels exist. A probability is 

 assumed, that the same species has been described by dif- 

 ferent writers, under different names, and the numbers of 

 them, consequently, erroneously increased. The principal 

 external differences in them appear to consist in the num- 

 ber of white stripes, which pass down the back and sides 

 of the animals, on a black ground. The descriptions of the 

 mephitic stench of all seem nearly to accord. 



Buffon collected together several accounts, from various 

 voyages and travels, from which, and from the observation 

 of a few skins, he established four species. These he called, 

 Coase, Conepate, Chinche, and Zorillo; and the supplement 

 to his work contains a fifth, under the name of Mouffette 

 de Chili. 



The first of these, the Coase, does not, certainly, corre- 

 spond with any known animal ; and, as has been surmised, 



