48 
their homes are burrows in the ground or dens in rocks and logs; the 
form is stout, the legs short, and the body low; the tail is bushy, and the 
pelage loose; the produced and enlarged snout gives them a somewhat 
hog-like physiognomy. They agree with the Badgers, and are unlike 
other Mustelide in having a complete, bony septum separating the poste- 
rior nares. 
The leading feature, however, of the Skunks is the anal glands, com- 
mon to the Mu telidx, but in this group reaching the maximum of 
development, and secreting a fluid which is the most penetrating, 
diffesible and intolerable of animal effluvia, affording to these otherwise 
inoffensive, and almost defenseless creatures a means of self-preservation 
as unique as it is effectuai, habitual reliance upon which modify the 
physiogomy of the entire genus, and impresses its whole nature. 
MEPHITIS MEPHITICA. Baird. 
COMMON SKUNK. 
1792, Viverra mephitica, Shaw, Mus. Lever., 1792, 173, No. 4, pl. 6; Gen. 
Zool., i, 1800, 890, pl. 94, middle fig. 
1808. Mephitis chinga, Tied., Zool., 1, 1808, 362 (partly).—Licht., Darstell. 
Saug., 1827-34, pl. 45, f. 1; Abh. Akad! Wis. Berl. for 1836, 1888, 
280.—Maxim., Reise N. A., 1, 1839, 250; Arch. t. Naturg., 1861,—; 
Verz. N. A. Saug., 1862, 42.—Wagen., Suppl. Schreb., ii, 1841, 
198.—Schinz, Syn., i, 1844, 323, No. 18.—Aud. & Bach., Q. N. 
A., i, 1849, 317, pl. 42.—Giebel, Saug., 1855, 766.—Fitzinger, 
Naturg. Saug., 1, 1861, 315, f. 68. 
1820. Mephitis americana, var. K, Desm., Mamm.,i, 1820,186. (‘ Mustella”’, 
lapsu. Includes all the American Skunks, vars. A—R); Nouv. 
Dict., xxi, 515 (var. 7).—J.Sab., App. Frankl. Journ., 1823, 653.— 
Harl., Fn. Am., 1825, 70.—Griff., An. Kingd., v, 1827, 127, No. 
808 (partly).—Less., Man., 1827, 151, No. 406.—Godm., Am Nat. 
Hist., i, 1831, 213, pl.—, f. 1—Doughty’s Cab. N. H., i1, 1832, 198, 
pl. 17.—Rich., Zool. Beechey’s Voy., 1839, 4—Kmmons, Rep. 
Quad. Mass., 1840, 49.—De Kay, N. Y. Zodl., i, 1842, 29, pl. 12, 
f. 1.—Wyman, Pr. Bost. Soc., 1844, 110 (anat.).—Warren, Pr. 
Bost. Soc., iii, 1849, 175 (anat.).—Thomps., N. H. Vermont, 1853, 
33.—Woodh., Sitgr. Rep., 1853, 44.—Kenn., Tr. Illinois Agric. 
Soc. for 1853-4, 1855, 578.— Beesley, Geol. Cape May, 1857, 1387.— 
Billings, Canad. Nat. and Geol., 1, 1857, 860.— Hall, Canad. Nat. 
and Geol., vi, 1861, 296. 
1829. Mephitis americana var. hudsonica, Rich., F. B. A., i, 1829, 55, No. 
19} 
