26 Journal of the Mitchell Society. [Marc/i 



(F. Cuvier), with colors lighter than in the Northern Otter. 

 The Otter is found throughout the State, but is apparently 

 rarest in the mountains and most plentiful in the east. 



GENUS PUTORIUS, CUVIER. 



58. P. vison hitreocephalus Harlan. Carolina Mink. Color 

 dark chestnut brown. L. 27. T. 8}{. The Mink is found 

 commonly throughout the State, it being a semi-aquatic 

 animal living mainly along watercourses. 



59. P. noveboracensis notius Bangs. Southern Weasel. 

 Brown above, yellowish white below, tail brown, black for 

 posterior half. L. 16. T. $y 2 , the female 'much smaller, L. 

 12^4, T. \)i. Rare in Wake (only two specimens seen in 

 twenty years) and in Bertie, but rather common in Buncombe 

 and Mitchell counties, and probably in the mountains gener- 

 ally, No Weasels are known in the eastern United States 

 from south of Raleigh until we reach Florida. 



GENUS MEPHITIS, CUVIER. 



60. M. dongata Bangs. . Large Southern Skunk. Polecat. 

 Color black, a patch on the back of the head and two stripes 

 extending back from it white. These stripes may be so 

 greatly enlarged that the animal is nearly all white, or so 

 greatly reduced that it is nearly all black. Tail ver} T bushy 

 with a white tip, the white on tail as variable in amount as 

 that on body. L. 24. T. 9. Occurs only in the southern 

 half of the State from the coast to the mountains. Very rare 

 in Wake count}*, and not found in Bertie, Forsyth, Guilford, 

 or other counties in the northern half of the State. The 

 secretions of the anal glands (not urine, as is commonly sup- 

 posed,) are so abundant and offensive in all skunks as to be 

 the animal's chief weapon of offense. 



GENUS SPILOGALE, GRAY. 



61. S. ring-ens Merr. Little Striped Skunk. About the 

 size and shape, of a mink, color black with four narrow, 



