COMMON AMERICAN SKUNK. 327 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



This species has a tolerably wide range, being found as far to the north 

 as lat. 56'' or 57°. We have met with it both in Upper and Lower 

 Canada, where it however appeared less abundant than in the Atlantic 

 States. It is exceedingly abundant in every part of the Northern States. 

 In New England, New York, and Pennsylvania, it is more frequently met 

 with than in Maryland, Virginia, and the more Southern States. It is not 

 uncommon on both sides of the Virginia Mountains, and is well known 

 in Kentuck}-, Indiana, and Illinois. It is not unfrequently met with in 

 the higher portions of South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. In the 

 alluvial lands of these three States, however, it is exceedingly rare. 

 We possess in the Charleston Museum two specimens procured in Christ 

 Church Parish, by Professor Edmund Ravenel, that were regarded as a 

 great curiosity bj' the inliabitants. It becomes more common a hundred 

 miles from the seaboard, and is not unfrequently met with in the sand- 

 hills near Columbia. To the south we have traced it to the northern 

 parts of Florida, and have seen it in Louisiana. To the w^est it has 

 been seen as far as the banks of the Mississippi. Lewis and Clarke, 

 and others, frequently saw Skunks west of the Rocky Mountains, near 

 their winter encampments, but we have as yet had no means of ascer- 

 taining that they were of this species. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



Although we do not regard the distribution of colours in the American 

 Skunk, as of much importance in deciding on the species, and hence, have 

 rejected as mere varieties, all those that can only be distinguished from 

 each other by their markings, we nevertheless differ very widely from 

 Baron Cuvier (Ossemens Fossiles, iv.) and others, who treat all the 

 American Mephites as mere varieties. We have examined and com- 

 pared many specimens in the museums of Europe and America, and pos- 

 sess others from Texas and other portions of the United States, and we 

 feel confident that both in North and South America several very distinct 

 species exist. We will endeavour, as we proceed in the present work, to 

 investigate their characters, and describe those species that are found 

 within the range to which we have restricted our inquiries. We have 

 in the museums of London examined and compared the species described 

 by Bennet, (Proceeds. Zool. Soc, 1833, p. 39,) as M. nasuta, which appears 

 to have been previously described by Dr. Lichtenstein, of Berlin, under 

 the name of M. mesoleiica, (Darst. der Saugeth. tab. 44, fig. 2,) as also 

 several species characterized by Gray, (Magazine of Nat. Hist., 1837, p. 



