MEPHITIS CHINCHE. 75 



The Skunk [Mephitis Chinche, Tiedem.]. 



This animal is very similar to the East India animal which we called 

 Moses [RateZus], The shape of the head, of the body and legs, are 

 nearly the same. The general properties of its colour are the same, 

 viz. light above and dark underneath. The ears are short. The greatest 

 difference is in the tail ; it is longer, and has more and longer hair. It 

 is as like in shape, &c. as a polecat is like a ferret. It has a pretty 

 thick compact body, being pretty round. The legs are rather short. 

 The metacarpus is short ; it therefore treads on the metacarpus, which 

 is bare. The metatarsus is longer ; it therefore treads on the ends of 

 the metatarsus, which are also bare. 



The back from the crown of the head in a straight line between the 

 two ears to the sides of the tail, and about half-way down on each side 

 of the body, is white ; there is also a narrow white stripe down the face. 

 All below this is black ; besides which there is a black line goes up 

 from the tail along the middle of the rump. The quantity of white in 

 some is larger than others, viz. the stripe is narrower : the white along 

 the back does not go so far down the sides, nor is it continued into the 

 tail, which, in such, is mostly black, having a few white hairs at the 

 tip. The tail is more bushy in some than in others. The hair is 

 longest on the back, becoming gradually shorter to the belly; also 

 shortest forwards, becoming longer towards the posteriors ; and longest 

 on the tail. The hair consists of the long hair and the fur ; but the fur 

 is pretty long : there is no fur about the head or legs. 



There were six nipples on one side, seven on the other. 



The stomach and pylorus are very much like the dog's : the stomach 

 appears a little shorter, but this may be owing probably to contraction. 



The duodenum passes down the right side, having a pretty broad 

 mesentery, and becomes fastened to the psoas muscle, brim of the pelvis, 

 and mesorectum ; but this attachment is pretty long : then it becomes 

 a loose intestine, being strung upon the edge of the mesentery, which 

 is continued down into the rectum ; where the only difference is, that the 

 intestine becomes a little larger and thicker in its coats 1 . The mesentery 

 is pretty b^oad ; and, with the vessels, there is a good deal of fat. 



The liver is divided into four lobes : the second from the left, which 

 is the largest, has two considerable fissures in its lower edge, almost 

 dividing it into three lobes ; into the left of which passes the ligamen- 

 tum rotundum : in the right division lies the gall-bladder. The right 

 lobe, which is the smallest, ends in the lobulus Spigelii. 



The epiploon is attached, forwards, all along the great curve of the 



1 [Home, Comp, Anat, i. p. 433.] 



