Howell — Generic Names of North American SJamks. 3 



which runs from thence a Course of 300 Miles down to the Sea, 

 and is about the same Distance from its Source, in the Moun- 

 tains. I was much delighted to see Nature differ in these Up- 

 per Parts, and to find here abundance of Things not to be seen 

 in the Lower Parts of the Country; this encouraged me to take 

 several Journeys with the Indians higher up the Rivers, towards 

 the Mountains * * * *." 



As Mr. Bangs has shown, Spilogale probably does not occur 

 in the coast region of South Carolina or Georgia,* but that both 

 the large and small skunks occupy the mountainous portions of 

 North Carolina is well known. It is entirely probable, there- 

 fore, that they are both found on the upper courses of the 

 Savannah River. It was doubtless during one of his excursions 

 'up the rivers towards the mountains' that Catesby saw the ani- 

 mal which served as the basis of his drawing. A copy of his 

 plate is presented with this paper. His description of the 

 'Pol-Cat' is as follows: 



"This in Shape is not unlike our common Polcat, except that 

 the Nose of this is somewhat longer: The Colour of all I have 

 seen is black and white, tho' not always alike marked; this 

 had a List of white, extending from the hind-part of the 

 Head, along the Ridge of the Back, to the Rump, with four 

 others, two on each Side, running parallel with it." 



Following this is an account of the characteristic habits of 

 the skunk. 



Although neither the figure nor the description furnishes an 

 accurate portrayal of either of the two skunks inhabiting the 

 region where he travelled, the reference of both plate and de- 

 scription to Spilogale seems unquestionable. The chief discrep- 

 ancy lies in the continuity of the white stripes, and in the state- 

 ment that there are Jive stripes, the median one being on the 

 ridge of the back. The real animal shows fou/r parallel stripes 

 on the back (two on either side of the median line), broken on 

 the hinder parts of the body into numerous irregular markings, 

 while lower down -on each side an additional stripe runs par- 

 allel to the others for a part of their length. (See plate.) 



When we consider that Catesby's drawing was probably made 

 from his recollection of an animal seen afield, perhaps at some 

 distance, and probably in the dusk of twilight, the differences 

 between the figure and the real animal become unimportant. It 



•Proo. Boston Boo. Nat. Hist., XXVIII, p. 224, 1898. 



