317 



MEPHITIS CHINGA.— TiEDiMANN. 



Common Amebican Skunk. 



PLATE XLII.— Female. Natural size. 



Magnitudine F. cati ; supra nigricans, stries albis longitudinalibus in- 

 signeta ; cauda longa villosissima. 



CHAEACTERS. 



She of a cat ; general colour, blackish-brown, with white longitudinal 

 stripes on the back ; many varieties in its white markings ; tail, long and 

 bushy. 



SYNONYMBS. 



Odinesque, Sagard Theodat, Canada, p. 748. 



Enfant du Diable, Charlevoix, Nouv. France, iii., p. 133. 



Skcnk-Weasel, Pennant's Arctic Zool,, vol. i., p. 85. 



Skunk, Hearne's Journey, p. 377. 



Mephitis Chinga, Tiedimann, Zool. i., p. 361, (Anh. 37,) 1808. 



Pole-Cat Skunk, Kalm's Travels, vol. ii., p. 378. 



VivERA Mephitis, Gmel. (L.) Syst. Nat., p. 88. 



MnsTELA Americana, Desm. Mam., p. 186, A. D. 1820. 



Mephitis Americana, Sab., Frank. Journal, p. 653. 



" " Harlan, Fauna, p. 70. 



The Skunk, Godm., Nat. Hist., vol. i., p. 213. 

 Mephitis Americana, Var. Hudsonica, Rich., F. B. A., p. 55. 



" Chinga, Lichlenstein, Darstellung neuer oder wenig bekanntei Sauuethiere, 



Berlin, 1827-34, xlv. Tafel, 1st figure. 



" Chinque, Licht., Ueber die Gattung Mephitis, p. 32, Berlin, 1838. 



" Americana, Dekay, Nat. Hist. N. Y., pt. 1, p. 29. 



DESCRIPTION. 



This species in all its varieties has a broad fleshy body, resembling 

 that of the wolverene ; it stands low on its legs, and is much wider at 

 the hips than at the shoulders. Fur, rather long and coarse, with much 

 longer, smooth and glossy hairs, interspersed. 



The head is small compared with the size of the body ; forehead, 

 somewhat rounded ; nose, obtuse, covered with short hair to the snout 



