Badger 
205 
an Eskimo followed his party ten miles by kayak to the 
Hudson Bay Company post for which he was bound, in 
order to have the first chance to trade for some Wolverene 
furs Preble's party was taking to the post. 
Subfamily MELINiE 
Terrestrial and often fossorial carnivora with somewhat 
rounded heads and elongated feet, the toes of which are 
straight and not webbed, and the claws but slightly curved, 
subcompressed, and blunt, those of the fore feet being 
specially large; kidneys simple. 
Genus TAXIDEA (Lat. taxus, a badger + Grk. eidos, form) 
Taxidea Storr, Prodr. Aleth. Mamm., p. 34 (1780). Type Ursus 
taxus Schreber. 
Body stout, strong, and flat-looking; legs short, but powerful; 
fore claws very long and strong; tail short; skull wedge-shaped; 
lambdoidal crest greatly developed, sagittal but httle; bullae large; 
end of palate halfway between molars and bullae; dentition: i. f ; 
c. |; pm. f;m.-|- X 2 == 34; upper carnassial largest. 
This genus is peculiar to North America, and there repre- 
sents the Old World badgers. It is found in the western 
half of the continent; in the United States from Wisconsin to 
Texas and westward. They are animals of entirely terrestrial 
and fossorial habits, being powerful burrowers and obtaining 
much of their food by digging out animals from their holes. 
Elliot's Check-list gives one species with three subspecies, 
four forms in all, of which one is an inhabitant of Colorado. 
Taxidea taxus. Badger 
Ursus taxus Schreber, Saugih., iii., p. 520 (1778). 
Measurements. — Total length, 29; tail vert., 5.8; hind foot, 4.5. 
Rather a large specimen. 
Description. — (From a specimen taken in Park County, August 
6th) : The hairs of the upper part of the body are a pale buff on 
the inner half, next the skin, or perhaps ecru would be a better name 
