224 PROCEEDINGS : BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
account is wholly of Mephitis mephitica. That Linn6 was not 
describing the Florida animal is patent as he says “ cauda longi- 
tudine corporis,” whereas the Florida species has a very short tail, 
less than half as long as the head and body. 
Spilogale was not known to occur in Florida until Mr. C. J. 
Maynard found it in the winter of 1868-69 at Capt. Dummits on 
the east peninsula. Dr. J. A. Allen recorded Maynard’s discovery 
in his mammals and winter birds of eastern Florida in 1871. 
The Florida little striped skunk is one of the remarkable pemnsu- 
lated Florida species, differing widely from its geographic nearest 
congener, S. ringens. It is very local in its distribution and is 
, abundant only on the east peninsula of the Indian River. 
I know of but one individual ever having been taken anywhere 
else — the one Dr. Merriam has from Kissimee Prairie. Perhaps 
it occurs also on some of the other interior prairies, but I have 
never been able to trap it anywhere except on the east peninsula. 
At Oak Lodge I collected twenty-nine specimens, and found the 
animal very easy to trap in steel traps either baited or placed in 
paths leading through the saw palmetto near the beach, where the 
skunks were particularly abundant. • 
Spilogale ringens Merriam, type locality, Greensborough, Hale 
Co., Alabama, may occur in eastern Georgia or western Florida, 
though I know of no records for the region treated in the present 
paper. It is found in western Georgia and extends north to the 
western parts of Ya. and to W. Ya. (I have specimens from Lee 
Co., Ya., and Mr. Thaddeus Surber has taken it at White Sulphur 
Springs, W. Ya.) It is a large species with a longer tail and 
larger hind foot, and with all the white markings much reduced. 
Lutra hudsonica vaga subsp. nov. 
Type from Micco, Brevard County, Florida, $ young adult, No. 
5,749, collection of E. A. and O. Bangs. Collected, March 17, 1897, 
by F. R. Hunter. 
General character. Size slightly larger than L. hudsonica 
tgpica / tail longer; color much redder, less blackish; skull larger 
and broader across mastoids; much more constricted behind post¬ 
orbital processes. 
Color. Lustrous chestnut brown, somewhat paler below; cheeks, 
lips, chin, throat, and sides of neck grizzled yellowish brown. 
