.895.] 583 [Bangs. 
those from Maine, there is a large, blunt, median spine. In these 
Nova Scotian skulls also there is a deep, broad channel or groove 
between the basioccipital and the au Vital bulla. This groove 
begins in front of abridge of l)one directly in front of the foramen 
lacerum postering and extends from there to the juncture of the 
sphenoid and basioccipital. This channel is present in both 
young and adults from Nova Scotia, and is present in a lesser 
degree in skulls from Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. 
It is also present, but very much reduced, in the type of J/. 
m. elongata and in the topotype (No. 3052, coll. Bangs) above 
referred to. In three skulls of M. m. elongata from Blitches Ferry, 
Citrus Co., Fla. (Nos. 2282, 2283, and 2284, coll. Bangs), however, 
it is wholly absent. Two of these skulls are old adults and the 
third a young one nearly full grown, but with the sutures all 
open. 
The southern skunk, Mephitis tiiephitica elongata^ can be said 
to extend north about to Connecticut. Three adults in the 
collection of E. A. and O. Bangs from Liberty Hill, Conn., Nos. 
1050, 2370, and 2416, though intermediate, are much nearer M. 
m. elongata than M. mephitica. In the same collection there is a 
large series from Wareham, Mass. Almost every individual in 
this series is a pei-fect intermediate between the two forms. 
Description of Mephitis mep}hitiat (Shaw). 
No. 2249, coll. of E. A. and 0. Bangs. J young ad. from Annapolis, Nova 
Scotia, Dec. 1, 1894 (measured in flesh by O. Bangs). Total length 63-5 mm. ; 
tail vertebrae 226 mm. ; hind foot 78 mm. ; ear from notch .34 mm. 
General characters. Size large, body large, broad, and heavy, feet broad, 
soles naked except the heel which is sparsely covered with long hairs, tail 
short, tapering to a point, and tipped with a pencil of white hairs. 
Color. A broad white frontal stripe extends to the nuchal patch which is 
of moderate size. Two white stripes extend back from the nuchal patch to 
the middle of the sides, where they disappear. Many of the hairs of the 
tail are white for their basal half, then black. Tail tipped with a long white 
pencil. The rest of the animal is black. 
Geographical distribution. Hudsonian and Canadian zones 
of the east, south to about Massachusetts. 
Just how far west the eastern skunks extend I am unable to 
say, but that they do not intergrade with the large-tailed western 
skunks I feel convinced. The western skunks form a separate 
