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Show 102 MAMMALIA. ted with white about the head, and disti~guished from the prece dm. g ones by the extension of the ha1r to. the under surface of the toes. It inhabits the coldest mountams, and the hunt·m g t o obtai'n it' in the midst of wi.n ter and. tremendous snows, is a perilous and painful undertakmg. It IS to the pur-suit of this animal that we owe the discovery of the eastern countries of Siberia. . . North America also possesses several Martens md1cated by naturalists and travellers, under the indefinite names of Pekan, Vison, Mink, &c. . One of them, the White Vison of the furriers, Mus. leutreoce-phala, Harl., has as hairy feet and almost as soft ~ fur as the Sable, but is of a light fawn colour, and almost white about the head. . That which we call the Pelcan; Must. canadenszs, Gm., and which comes from Canada and the United States, is of a brown· ish colour, mixed with white on the head, neck, shoulders and top of the back; nose, crupper, tail and limbs blackish.(!) MEPHITis, Cuv. The Skunk, like the Polecat, has two false molars above and three below but the superior tuberculous one is very large, and as long ' . as it is broad, and the inferior carnivorus has two tubercles on Its internal side, circumstances which ally it to the Badger just as the Polecat approximates to the Grison and Glutton. Independently of this, the anterior nails of the Skunk, like those of the Badger, are long and fitted for digging; they are moreover semi-plantigrade, and the resemblance extends even to the distribution of their colours. The whole family are remarkable for their fetid exhalations, but the Skunk is pre-eminently distinguished by its most horrible and suf· focating stench. Skunks are generally marked with white stripes on a black ground, but the number of stripes appears to vary in the same species. The most common species of North America is the M. putorius.; Viverra putor., Gm.; Cates b. Carol. II, lxii. Schreb. CXXII. (The American Skunk.) Black, with stripes of white, larger or smaller, and more or less numerous ; the tail is black, and the tip white. The odour it produces resembles (1) It is the Ptkan of Daubenton, but it has not always the white under the throat. [See .B.ppend. JT. of .Om. Ed.] There are several other species of Polecats or of Martens indicated by Mlf. Molina, Humboldt and Harlan; but they require re-examination. CARNARIA. 103 that of the Polecat, mingled with a strong smell of garlicnothing is more nauseous. It would seem that in South America the species most usually encountered has a white tail. The stripes on the back sometimes occupy its whole breadth; it is the Viverra mephitis, Gm.; Buff. XIII, xxxix, or the Cltinche.(l) We may make a distinct subgenus of the MYnAus, Fred. Cuv. whose teeth, feet, and even colours are similar to those of the Skunk, but whose truncated muzzle resembles a Hog's snout ; the tail being reduced to a small pencil. One species only is known, the M. meliceps, Fred. Cuv., and Horsf. Java. (The Teledu.) Black; the nape of the neck, a stripe along the back and the tail white; the dorsal stripe sometimes interrupted in the middle; not surpassed in stench by any of the Skunks. LuTRA, Storr. The Otters have three false molars in each jaw, a strong heel to the superior carnivorus, a tuberculus on the inner side of the inferior one, and a large tuberculous tooth above that is nearly as long as it is broad. The head is compressed, and the tongue demi-asperate. They are otherwise distinguished from all the preceding subgenera by palmated feet, and a horizontally flattened tail, two characters which render them aquatic. Their food is fish. L. vulgaris; Mus tela lutra, L.; Buff. VIII, xi. (The Common Otter.) Brown above, whitish round the lips, on the cheeks and the whole inferior surface of the body. It is sometimes found spotted and whitish. From the rivers of Europe. Several Otters differ but little from the above. That of Carolina, L. lataxina, Fr. Cuv., becomes a little larger, is sometimes more deeply coloured, and has a brownish tint beneath ; very frequently, however, there is no difference even in the shades of colour. In Brazil there are others similar in every respect to those of Carolina. That of the East Indies the L. nair, Fr. Cuv., (The Pondicherry Otter) appears a little smoother, and is somewhat pale about the eye-brows, but it is scarcely perceptible. The Indians employ it for fishing, as we (1) It is better figured, Hist. des Mammif. of Fr. Cuv. The Chili Skunk, Buff. Supp. Vll, pl. I vii, appears to be a mere badly preserved variety of the same. See my Ossemens Foss. IV, 469. N.B. This is the same animal with the immediately preceding species, and has b:en call.ed the JT. conepatl and JT. chinclte. No two individuals of this species are alike, bemg sometimes even wholly white or the reverse. .!lm. Ed. |