2IO IVILD NEIGHBORS chap. 



fetid discharge at once, therefore, and have done 

 with it. 



In the first place, it is to be noted that musky 

 secretions, more or less intense in their nauseating 

 effect on the human nostrils, are characteristic of 

 the whole tribe to which the skunk belongs, — 

 the Mustelidas. To this tribe belong the Euro- 

 pean polecat, the mink, — whose discharges, when 

 excited, are far more disgusting than anything the 

 skunk utters, — and various other evil-smelling fur- 

 bearers, while to the closely related badger family 

 belong not only our own far from fragrant badger, 

 but also the stinking-badger or teledu of the East 

 Indies, the honey-badgers of South Africa, and 

 the wolverine. Of this company, — so abominable 

 when considered from this single point of view, 

 — the skunk is by no means the worst, although 

 none equal him in the power of disseminating 

 the perfume, nor in its copiousness. The Yan- 

 kees call him an "essence pedler." 



In the skunk, the fetid material is contained 

 in two capsules embedded in the muscles beneath 

 the root of the tail, one on each side of the 

 intestinal outlet, into which, just within the anus, 

 they open by little nipples perforated by fine 

 ducts ; another longer duct leads into each of 

 them from absorbent vessels situated deeper 

 in the body. These glandular capsules are not 

 larger than peas, and are enclosed in a thick 

 envelope of muscles, which, when suddenly and 



