k 2 



farmers' BULLETIN 587. 



not yet fully developed. Within a few years the prices of this fur 

 will probably be more than doubled. 



The three fur animals named are economically the most important 

 ones, because each is widely distributed and adapted to a variety of 

 climatic conditions. If, as is believed, they can be domesticated or 

 successfully reared in captivity, their breeding may become a means 



Fig. 1. — Range of common skunk ( Mephitis). 



of profit in most parts of the United States. The skunk, especially, 

 presents possibilities of widely extended usefulness in domestication. 



KINDS OF SKUNKS. 



The common large skunks 1 are restricted wholly to North America. 

 They range northward to Nova Scotia, the Hudson Bay country, and 

 British Columbia; and southward through the greater part of Mexico, 

 including part of Lower California, to Guatemala (fig. 1). The num- 

 ber of species recognized is 9, with 8 subspecies, or geographic races. 



1 Genus Mephitis. 



