Re 
a 
AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
SKUNK. 
MEPHITIS AMERICANA. 
[Plate XVII. Vol. 2.] 
Mephitis Americana; Drsm. Gopman Vol. 1. p. 213, 
Viverra Mephitis; Guru. [L.] Syst. Nat. p. 88, No. 
13, Chinche; Burr. Hist. Nat. tom. 33, pl. xx. fig. 
2. Enfant du diable; Cuartry. Nowy. France v. 
196. Skunk Weesel, Penn. Quad. 2, p. 65, No. 263. 
Tuer Skunk is a pretty and at the same time a most 
noxious animal, and is ranked among those vermin so de- 
structive to the farmers’ interests, and to various descrip- 
tions of game. 
Most persons are acquainted with this animal by cha- 
racter, although but few know it by sight; nor doany seek to 
encounter it farther than with feelings of enmity or re- 
venge, as it isan unwelcome visiter to any neighbourhood, 
in consequence of its destructive and other disagreeable 
habits. When its abode is well secured it is a most dif_i- 
cult matter to dislodge or drive it from the premises; and 
there is perhaps no animal possessing so little energy and 
strength, which is so completely protected by other natu- 
ral means from its enemies. 
The. fetor emitted by the Skunk, when defending itself, 
is so exceedingly powerful, as will almost suffocate its an- 
tagonist and cause a rapid retreat from so disgusting an 
enemy. This stench can be produced or retained at plea- 
sure by the animal, and is seldom diffused, except when 
violence is committed toward it, or in defending itself 
from attack. Of the nature of this liquid many persons dif- 
fer; some believing it to be its urine,* and others, more 
reasonably, contend that it is entirely distinct, and given 
only as its means of protection. Onthishead Dr. Godman re- 
marks, that “ A few glands secrete a most noisome and 
intolerably stinking fluid, and this scattered with peculiar 
force upon the body of its enemies, or even in the air, is 
sufficient to disarm the violence of most quadrupeds, and 
induce man himself rather to avoid than to seek an en- 
counter. 
“The organs by which this fluid is formed are placed 
near the termination of the digestive tube, and the ducts 
from the glands open into the rectum, by the aid of whose 
* It has been fora long time the opinion among the country folks 
and many others, that the unpleasant perfume discharged by the 
Skunk is its urine, and that it is scattered against its enemies by 
its tail; this liquid, Dr. Godman says, produces a phosphorescent 
light. 
Cicer 
193 
museles the fluid is ejected with astonishing force, and is 
aimed with great accuracy, rarely missing the object if dis- 
charged while within the proper distance. The faculty 
this animal possesses of annoying its enemies by the dis- 
charge of the fluid just mentioned, causes it rather to be 
shunned than hunted, which the value of its skin would 
otherwise be sure to occasion. 
<The fetor produced by the Skunk is especially charac- 
terized by all who have experienced it as suffocating or 
stifling, which is owing to its peculiar concentration. The 
predominant odour is that of muskiness, but in so con- 
densed and aggravated a form as to render it almost in- 
supportable, even at a considerable distance from the spot 
where it is first discharged. A very good idea may be 
formed of this stench by breaking and smelling a leaf or 
stalk of the plant called skunk cabbage, (the Dracontiwm 
fetidum, or pothos fetidum, resembling it in every re- 
spect except in strength, which perhaps no artificial accu- 
mulation of this vile scent could ever equal. 
<¢The fluid ejected by the Skunk is not merely offensive 
by its stench, but also in consequence of its highly stimu- 
lating and acrimonious qualities. When any of itis thrown 
into the eyes, it is productive of very violent and danger- 
ous inflammation; we must suppose that this peculiar 
acrimony, rather than any mere offensiveness of odour, is 
the cause of the marked repugnance evinced by dogs, as 
these show not the slightest sign of uneasiness from the 
presence of the most nauseous and putrid effluvia from ani- 
mal or vegetable substances, yet run howling and trying 
to thrust their noses into the ground after having been ex- 
posed to this pungent perfume from the Skunk. 
‘¢In its extreme volatility it bears a considerable resem- 
blance to true musk. The smallest drop is sufficient to 
render a garment detestable to the weaver and his com- 
panions for a great duration of time, and without any per- 
ceptible diminution of intensity. Washing, smoking, 
baking and burying articles of dress, and in fact every ef- 
fort short of destroying the materials of which they are 
made, seem to be equally inefficient for its removal. This 
scent is not only thus enduring when the fluid is sprinkled 
upon clothing, but the spot where the animal is killed, or 
where the matter was ejected, retains it for a great lapse 
of time. ‘When I was at Cumberland House, (says 
Hearne, p. 378,) in the fall of 1774, some Indians that 
were tenting on the plantation killed two of these animals, 
and made a feast of them, when the spot where they were 
singed and gutted was so impregnated with the nauseous 
smell which they emit, that after a whole winter had 
elapsed, and the snow had thawed away in the spring, tne 
smell was still intolerable.’ A friend informed the author 
of this work, that he had plainly perceived the odcur of 
