304 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



the tail : two-thirds, from their root upwards, they are 

 white ; the remaining third of each hair is black. 



These Mephitic animals are very clumsy, and not nearly 

 so active as their congeners ; whence a certain awkward- 

 ness, resulting from their make, which may be the cause 

 of their being provided with their singular mode of defence; 

 and thus, as their means of flight are limited, nature has 

 supplied them with powers the most effectual, not merely 

 for self-defence and preservation, but also for actual an- 

 noyance. It is a known fact, that young and sporting dogs, 

 unacquainted with their quality, sometimes pounce upon 

 them; but the dash of fetid liquid in their nose instantly 

 forces them to quit the animal ; they then dig, with miserable 

 whinings, in the earth, rub their noses into it, and scratch 

 themselves so violently at the same time, as to produce con- 

 siderable bleeding. They are seldom appeased till exhausted 

 with fatigue, and never will pursue a second of the same 

 species. Washing and baking clothes is insufficient ; and 

 Mr. Skidder, the owner of the New York Museum (as Major 

 Smith states), had a set of clothes spoilt, which, after wash- 

 ing, were hung upon the roof of his house, full fifty feet 

 high, and yet could be very distinctly smelt some distance 

 off in the streets, or the square near the house. On one 

 occasion, as the Major was travelling by the coach, the 

 vehicle gained upon a Skunk, which was attempting to get 

 through a fence, which any other species would have passed 

 in a moment ; not succeeding, however, in its endeavours 

 before the coach came up with it, it emitted the Mephitic 

 vapour, and, by a wisk of the tail, sent it on the seat of the 

 driver, next to whom sat a young buxom American girl, all 

 of whose clothes were completely ruined by a few drops. 



The residence of Major Smith, in South America, was 

 principally in the east and north east low-lands of that con- 

 tinent, which are parts but little frequented by the Mephitic 



