572 CARNIVORA 
the Chernobours, where they are captured by spearing, clubbing, or 
nets, and recently by the more destructive rifle bullet. They do 
not feed on fish, like the true Otters, but on clams, mussels, sea- 
urchins, and crabs, for the mastication of which the blunt cusps of 
their teeth are admirably suited. The female brings forth but a 
single young one at a time, apparently at any season of the 
year. They are excessively shy and wary, and all attempts to 
rear the young ones in captivity have hitherto failed. 
Subfamily Meline.—Feet elongated. Toes straight. Claws 
non-retractile, slightly curved, subcompressed, blunt; those of the 
fore foot especially large. Upper molar variable. Kidneys simple. 
Habits mostly terrestrial and fossorial. 
Mephitis.\A—Dentition: + 3, ¢ 4, p 3, m 4; total 34. Upper 
molar larger than the carnassial, subquadrate, rather broader than 
long. Lower carnassial with talon less than half the length of the 
whole tooth. Bony palate terminating posteriorly opposite the 
hinder border of the last molar tooth. Facial portion of skull 
short and somewhat truncated in front. Vertebre: C 7, D 16, 
L 6,8 2, C 21. Head small. Body elongated. Limbs moderate, 
subplantigrade. Ears short and rounded. Tail long, abundantly 
clothed with very long fine hair. Anal glands largely developed. 
The secretion of these glands, which can be discharged at the will 
of the animal, has an intolerably offensive odour, which circumstance 
has rendered the Skunks, as they are commonly called, proverbial. 
They are strictly nocturnal animals, terrestrial and burrowing, feed- 
ing chiefly on small mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, worms, roots, 
and berries. All the known species have a prevalent black colour, 
varied by white strips or spots on the upper part (Fig. 263). They 
generally carry the body much arched, and the tail erect, the long 
loose hair of which waves like a plume over the back. There are 
three species, all inhabitants of the American continent, over which 
they have an extensive range. 
The Common Skunk (J mephitica, Fig. 263) is an animal of 
about the size of a small Cat, ranging from Hudson’s Bay to 
Guatemala. The following account of its habits is given by 
Dr. C. H. Merriam in his Mammals of the Adirondack Region :-— 
“The skunk preys upon mice, salamanders, frogs, and the eggs 
of birds that nest on or within reach from the ground. At times 
he eats carrion, and if he chances to stumble upon a hen’s nest the 
eggs are liable to suffer; and once in a while he acquires the evil 
habit of robbing the hen-roost, but as a rule skunks are not addicted 
to this vice. Of all our native mammals perhaps no one is so 
universally abused and has so many unpleasant things said about it 
as the innocent subject of the present biography ; and yet no other 
species is so valuable to the farmer. Pre-eminently an insect-eater, 
Cuvier, ‘‘Tabl. de Classif.” in Legons d’ Anat. Compar. vol. i. (1800). 
