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Long-nosed Skunk. 
Mephitis nasuta, Bennett, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1833, p. 39. 
In pointing out the peculiarities in which the Long-nosed Skunk differs from the other 
members of the family, Mr. Bennett says of this species, that by its robust form, the shortness 
and strength of its limbs, the greater production of its nose, the denseness, firmness, and resist¬ 
ance of its strong hairs, and the entire nakedness of the soles of its feet, this animal differs 
from the Common Skunk of America. In the dried skin exhibited, the nose extends an inch 
beyond the line of the upper incisors, an hairy space of half an inch in width intervening between 
the upper lip and the soft naked muzzle. On its upper surface the naked part of the muzzle 
is extended backwards seven-eighths of an inch in an elliptical form. The fur of the body is 
composed of an under coat of crisped fine hairs, and of an outer coat of strong and somewhat 
rigid hairs, which, however, have little of harshness, although they offer to the touch a marked 
difference in the resistance they oppose to pressure, as compared with the equally long but silky 
and soft hairs of the Common Skunk. The soft feel exists in two specimens, apparently referri- 
ble to the latter, which are contained in the Collection, and the difference in quality of the 
fur can therefore scarcely be attributed to locality. This difference is, moreover, combined with 
characters of form, especially about the nose, which authorize the consideration of the Long- 
nosed Skunk as a distinct species. 
Inhabits that part of California which adjoins to Mexico. 
The colouring, which in the genus Mephitis is evidently but little fitted to afford charac¬ 
ters on which reliance can be placed, consists, in the individual exhibited, of a single broad 
white band, extending from behind the eyes along the middle of the back, where it is more 
dilated, and passing continuously to the tail, the whole of which it occupies; the head is dark 
brown, and the remainder of the fur is black. The claws, remarkably strong on the anterior 
feet, are, as usual, horn-coloured. 
The hinder tarsi of the Mephitis nasuta are destitute of hair on their under surface, and 
the nakedness extends even beyond the heel. In one of the specimens of the Common Skunk 
before alluded to, the hinder third of the tarsus is slightly, and in the other densely, hairy. 
Length of the head and body, sixteen inches and a half; of the tail, nine and a half. 
