7. MEPHITIS. 



137 



Var. a. mesomelas. Crown white ; streak broad, continued from 

 the crown to the end of the taU ; face with a narrow white streak. 



Mephitis mesomelas, Idcht. Darstell. d. Smgeth. t. 45. f. 2: Ahh. 



■ Akad. Berl. 1836, p. 277. 

 Mephitis occidentalis, Baird, Mamm. N. A. p. 194. 

 Moufette de I'Am^rique Septentrionale, F. Cuv. Mamm. lAth. 

 Var. 6. mephitica. Like a, but no white streak on the face ; back- 

 streaks narrowed and almost interrupted on the loins. B.M. 

 Mephitis mephitica, Baird, Mamm. N. A. p. 195. 

 Yar. e. varians. Like a, with face-streak ; but back-streak not 

 reaching beyond (and some specimens not even to) the middle of the 

 back, the white on the crown varying in size at the same time. B.M. 



Mephitis varians. Gray, Mag. N. H. 1837, t. ; Baird, Mamm. N. A. 

 p. 193 ; Mexico, p. 192, t. 60. f. 2 (skull). 



Var. d. Like c ; but no white face-streak ; the spot on the 

 crown with a pair of short streaks behind, not reaching to the 

 shoulders. B.M 



Var. e. chinga. Face-streak broad ; crown-spot and dorsal streaks 

 very broad, occupying nearly the whole upper surface of the body, a 

 short black dorsal streak from the base of the tail to or towards the 

 shoulders. 



Mephitis chinga, Tiedemann, Zool. i. p. 361 ; Licht. Darstell. d. Sdu- 



geth. t. 45. f. 1; Pr. Max. Arch.f. JVaturg. 1861, p. 218. 

 Mephitis mephitica, Baird, Mamm. N. A. i. p. 196. 

 Mephitis chinche, Fischer. 

 Mustela chinga, Blainv. Osi^ojrr.TMuatela, 1. 13 (teeth), 1. 1 (skeleton), 



t. 6 (skull). 

 Viverra mephitis, Griffith. 

 Chincha americana, Lesson. 



Mephitis americana, De Kay, Zool. N. Y. 1. 12. f. 1. 

 Mephitis americana, var. hudsonica, Bichardson, Faun. Bor.-Amer. i. 



p. 66. 

 Chinche, Buffon, H. N. xiii. p. 300, t. 39 ; Pennant, Arct. Zool. Mamm. 



p. 40 ; F. Cuv. 8f Geoff. Mamm. lAth. t. 

 Skunk, Kalm. 

 Wegak, or Skunk, Heame. 

 Enfant du Diahle, Charlevoix. 



Hah. North America. 



Mephitis 

 varians. c. 



Mephitis 

 Tarians, 5. 



Length of skull 



nose 



zygoma and orbit 



palate 



lower j aw 



Width of brain-ease over ears 



nose in front of orbit 



tooth-line of canine and grinders 



in., lin. 

 3 



lOi 



1 3i 



1 14 



2 1 



11 



11 



in. lin. 



2 9 



10 



1 2 

 1 04 

 1 94 

 1 34 

 104 

 10 



