PRELIMINARY LIST OF TH E MAMMALS OF NEW YORK 349 



Distribution in New York. Tlie skunk occurs throughout the state. 

 This is probably an animal whose range has been slightly if at all affected 

 by the removal of the forests, but which has undoubtedly increased in 

 numbers with the transformation of forests into farms. 



Principal records. De Kay: "This well known and thoroughly 

 detested animal is supposed to exist throughout the whole American 

 continent" ('42, p. 30). Merriam: "The skunk is very common in the 

 clearings and settled districts bordering this region and is found sparingly 

 throughout the Adirondacks" ('82, -p. 69). Fisher: '-Common [at Sing 

 Sing]. A very beneficial animal and one that should be carefully pro- 

 tected " ('96, p. 199). Mearns : "Common. Three specimens were 

 trapped on the banks of Schoharie creek. It was not met with on the 

 mountains" ('98b, p. 358). 



I have found the skunk common at Geneva, Ontario co. and at Peter- 

 boro, Madison co. 



Of the presence of the animal in the neighborhood of Buffalo Mr 

 Savage writes : " The skunk is common, occasionally coming into the 

 heart of the city. About three winters ago I came upon five dead skunks 

 in 10 days all within a radius of three-quarters of a mile and all within 

 the city limits. Last fall a friend dug out a rabbit that his dog had 

 'holed,' and found that in the short time occupied by the work of exca- 

 vation the animal had been killed and partly eaten by a skunk that 

 happened to be occupying the hole." Mr Helme says: "The skunk is 

 common but for some unknown reason it is much less numerous than 

 formerly." 



Remarks. It is probable that the skunk of the upper austral areas in 

 New York is subspecifically distinct from that occurring in the 

 Canadian zone, but at present there is no material with which to decide 

 the question. If there aie two forms the Canadian animal is Mephitis 

 mephitica mcphitica, the upper austral, M. mephitica scrutator Bangs. The 

 ranges of these subspecies are given by Bangs as follows : M. ??iephitica 

 mephitica, "Boreal eastern North America; Nova Scotia, Quebec, and 

 Ontario south to about the northern limits of the United States'' ('96d, 

 p. 140) ; M. mephitica scrutator, " Pine and prairie regions of central 

 Louisiana, extending up the Mississippi valley to Indiana and eastward 

 across the Alleghanies to Virginia and thence northward, gradually be- 

 coming less typical until it merges into true mepliitica " ('96d, p. 141). 



It is of interest to note that De Kay in speaking of this animal now so 

 extensively trapped for its fur says: " His fur is coarse and of no value 

 as an article of commerce " ('42, p 30). 



