VIII THE SKUNK, CALMLY CONSIDERED 247 



rabies, independent of canine rabies ; while others 

 assert that it is simply canine madness com- 

 municated to skunks by some mad dog, fox, or 

 wolf, and thence started as a local epidemic among 

 the skunks of the neighborhood. My own view 

 inclines to the latter opinion. Certainly the bite 

 of a skunk is ordinarily no more to be feared than 

 that of any other wild animal, wounds from whose 

 teeth are always liable to be followed by blood- 

 poisoning due to particles of corrupt flesh adher- 

 ing to the teeth and left in the wounds. 



What has been said in all the foregoing pages 

 applies to skunks in general, as a study of char- 

 acter, habits, and qualities, though more especially 

 to the common Northern species known in zoology 

 as Mephitis mephitica. In the southwestern United 

 States and northern Mexico two other very similar 

 species are distinguished, — Mephitis macrura and 

 M. estor. In addition to this a closely allied 

 group of skunks inhabits the warmer parts of the 

 continent, known as the Little Striped Skunks, 

 and constituting the genus Spilogale. These are 

 decidedly smaller than Mephitis, and instead of the 

 two more or less broad stripes reaching backward 

 from the nape of the neck on each side of the 

 spine (their shape and extent is very variable), 

 four narrow and often broken and irregular white 

 stripes lie upon the neck and shoulders, while the 

 sides and rump are marked by transverse curving 

 lines and spots ; these lines are subject to great 



