Long-nosed Skunk. 



Mephitis nasuta, Bennett, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1833, p. 39. 



In pointing out the peculiarities in which the Long-nosed Skunk differs from the other 

 members of the family, Mr. Bennett says of this species, that by its robust form, the shortness 

 and strength of its limbs, the greater production of its nose, the denseness, firmness, and resist- 

 ance of its strong hairs, and the entire nakedness of the soles of its feet, this animal differs 

 from the Common Skunk of America. In the dried skin exhibited, the nose extends an inch 

 beyond the line of the upper incisors, an hairy space of half an inch in width intervening between 

 the upper lip and the soft naked muzzle. On its upper surface the naked part of the muzzle 

 is extended backwards seven-eighths of an inch in an elliptical form. The fur of the body is 

 composed of an under coat of crisped fine hairs, and of an outer coat of strong and somewhat 

 rigid hairs, which, however, have little of harshness, although they offer to the touch a marked 

 difference in the resistance they oppose to pressure, as compared with the equally long but silky 

 and soft hairs of the Common Skunk. The soft feel exists in two specimens, apparently referri- 

 ble to the latter, which are contained in the Collection, and the difference in quality of the 

 fur can therefore scarcely be attributed to locality. This difference is, moreover, combined with 

 characters of form, especially about the nose, which authorize the consideration of the Long- 

 nosed Skunk as a distinct species. 



Inhabits that part of California which adjoins to Mexico. 



The colouring, which in the genus Mephitis is evidently but little fitted to afford charac- 

 ters on which reliance can be placed, consists, in the individual exhibited, of a single broad 

 white band, extending from behind the eyes along the middle of the back, where it is more 

 dilated, and passing continuously to the tail, the whole of which it occupies ; the head is dark 

 brown, and the remainder of the fur is black. The claws, remarkably strong on the anterior 

 feet, are, as usual, horn-coloured. 



The hinder tarsi of the Mephitis nasuta are destitute of hair on their under surface, and 

 the nakedness extends even beyond the heel. In one of the specimens of the Common Skunk 

 before alluded to, the hinder third of the tarsus is slightly, and in the other densely, hairy. 



Length of the head and body, sixteen inches and a half ; of the tail, nine and a half. 



