116 
ZOOLOGY. 
This animal, according to the officers of the Hudson Bay Company, are leaving the coast, 
being found now in much smaller numbers than formerly. They fancy that the majority have 
gone to the Japan and Russian coasts. The few now obtained by the company are generally 
from Fort Simpson, on the coast of Russian America, where it is still rather plentiful. They 
are found so abundantly near Cape Mendocino, and along the coast between that point and 
Port Orford, that several companies have been organized and equipped in San Francisco 
expressly for their capture. The average length of the skins of full grown individuals is about 
6 feet. A very fine skin which I saw in the collection of furs in the Hudson Bay fort at 
Vancouver, Washington Territory, measured 1 4 inches in length. A test of the value and 
compactness of the fur is, that when blown upon strongly with the breath the hairs cannot be 
sufficiently separated to show the least portion of naked skin at the bottom. Skins of full length, 
and in prime condition, cannot be purchased at the Hudson Bay storehouse for less than $100 
apiece, and then only as a favor. They are in good demand in the Chinese markets, being 
considered among the wealthy celestials as affording the most luxurious and recherche attire. 
Through the kindness of Dr. Glisan and Lieutenant Kautz, of the United States army, I 
obtained a sea otter skull from Port Orford, Oregon. Attached to the skull was a memorandum 
stating that it was that of a female two years old. This was sent to the Smithsonian collection, 
but I have not as yet heard from it. 
The sea otter is called by the Nisqually Indians Dah-hahtt. —S. 
MEPHITES 0CCIDENTALIS, Baird. 
California Skunk; Western Skunk. 
Mephites occidentals, Baird, Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1857, 194. 
[See chap. 2, p. 94. ] 
Skunks are plentiful throughout Washington Territory, Oregon, and northern California.—G. 
The California skunk is extremely abundant throughout the western portions of Oregon and 
its sister Territory. At the Dalles of the Columbia they are so abundant as to be a pest to the 
settlers. Major Rains, of the United States army, assured me that during a two years’ residence 
at Fort Dalles he killed 33 skunks, almost all of which had been Jiving beneath the ground- 
floor of his house. 
At Puget Sound they are also very numerous, living frequently under the houses of the 
settlers, and subsisting upon offal, carrion, dead fish, or any other edible substances which 
chance throws in their way. They are frequent attendants upon the heaps of fish tails, bones, 
fins, and other offal, at the Indian salmon fisheries. They are generally nocturnal in their 
habits, and at those times, especially when travelling long distances, prefer the beaten roads 
and trails. 
The skunk is thought to be a very brave animal by the Sioux, Blackfoot, and other wild tribes 
east of the Rocky mountains, and the tail of the animal, or its skin, is considered a trophy or 
badge of distinction, only to be worn by the acknowledged “braves” of the tribe. I am not 
aware whether this custom prevails among the Indians of the Pacific coast, but presume not. 
I have been called upon, professionally, to order treatment for men suffering from the sudden 
introduction of the peculiar stinking discharge of this animal into their eyes. It is violently 
irritating, temporarily causing intolerable smarting, photophobia, &c., the symptoms following 
its introduction being very similar to those caused by the application of tobacco juice to the 
same delicate organs. I have usually found that washing the eyes in simple cold water is the 
