MAMMALS OF NOKTHERN CANADA 211 

 Skunk — Mephitis hudsonica (Richardson). 



I believe that a few straggling individuals have been met 

 with as far north as the Upper Peace, the Lower Athabasca, 

 and the Upper Slave Rivers, but I never heard of any having 

 been discovered in the Mackenzie River District, or beyond 

 Great Slave Lake. Chief Trader B. R. Ross, however, found 

 the bones and part of the skin of a skunk at a short distance 

 from the south shore of that great inland sea. As already 

 indicated, this is one of the herein-designated " periodic " 

 species. The statement of sales in London rather corrobor- 

 ates this view, although perhaps not in as exact a manner 

 as under martens and minks. First, we have 1,61,9 skins for 

 1853, then seven successive " good " years, ranging from 

 the lowest (4,474 in 1854) to the highest (11,320 in 1856) 

 for the entire period of twenty-five years. These were fol- 

 lowed by seven "lean" years (1861 to 186Y) with from 

 1,617 for 1865 to 3,758 in 1861. After that three more 

 "good" years, 6,208 in 1868, 6,679 in 1869, and 9,606 

 in 1870. Then we finish the list with seven poor seasons 

 from 1871 to 1877, varying between 1,322 in 1874 and 

 3,928 in 1877. I regret that I am unable to furnish details 

 of the later sales, except for the years 1888, 1902, and 1903, 

 and they consisted of 16,322, 5,682 and 5,206 skins, respect- 

 ively. There is no record of the trade of even one example 

 of this fur-ibearing animal in the Athalbasca or Peace River 

 Districts for over thirty years subsequent to 1858, nor, I 

 believe, previously; but from its former Edmonton posts 

 to the south some skins have since been obtained. In 1889, 

 Lesser Slave Lake gave 62, Sturgeon Lake 3, Trout Lake 2, 

 and Whitefish Lake 20 skins ; English River District, to the 

 south-east of Athabasca, turned out 461 skins in 1889 and 

 207 in 1890, most of which were purchased from Indians 

 resorting to Isle a la Crosse and Green Lake. Portage la 

 Loche had but 11 and 14 skins, respectively, for those outfits. 

 At Fort St. James, Stuart Lake, British Columbia, lie Com- 

 pany traded 6 skunks in 1887, 23 in 1888, and 61 in 1889. 



