328 COMMON AMERICAN SKUNK. 



581,) that are very distinct from the present. In the immense collection 

 existing in the museum at Berlin, one of the best regulated museums in 

 Europe, and which is particularly rich in the natural productions of 

 Mexico, Texas, California, and South America, several species are 

 exhibited that cannot be referred to our Skunk. We are under obliga- 

 tions to Dr. LicHTENSTEiN for a valuable work, (Darstellung neuer oder 

 wenig bekannter Saugethiere, Berlin, 1827-1834,) which contains figures 

 and descriptions of a number of new species of Skunks. Also a mono- 

 graph, (Ueber die Gattung Mephitis, Berlin, 1838,) in sixty-five pages, 

 quarto, with plates, which contains much learned research, and has greatly 

 extended our previous knowledge of the species. He describes seventeen 

 species, all, with one African exception, belonging to North and South 

 America. North of Texas, however, he recognizes only two species, the 

 present, and Mephitis interrupta, of RAFiNBsauE ; the latter, however, still 

 requires a more careful comparison. All our American authors have 

 applied the name Mephitis Americana, of Desmaeest, to our present spe- 

 cies. It is now ascertained, how^ever, that Tiedimann described it twelve 

 years earlier under the name of M. chinga, which, according to the rigid 

 rules to which naturalists feel bound to adhere, must be retained, and 

 Ave therefore have adopted it in our text although our plate was lettered 

 M. Americana, Desmahest. 



