. Descriptions of twenty-six new species of North American mammals. Mammals North America. 2 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. [No. 4. settled uutil specimens from intermediate localities ai-e examined. The Florida form is the smallest and whitest; the Kansas form is the largest and blackest. The western group comprises at least three species and two or three subspecies, but, considering the great extent of the area it inhabits, is even less fully represented in available specimens than the eastern. One species inhabits south-central (and western ? ) Texas ; one Arizona and southern California; and one th
. Descriptions of twenty-six new species of North American mammals. Mammals North America. 2 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. [No. 4. settled uutil specimens from intermediate localities ai-e examined. The Florida form is the smallest and whitest; the Kansas form is the largest and blackest. The western group comprises at least three species and two or three subspecies, but, considering the great extent of the area it inhabits, is even less fully represented in available specimens than the eastern. One species inhabits south-central (and western ? ) Texas ; one Arizona and southern California; and one the southern part of the peninsula of Lower California. In the genus Spilogale, as in the allied genem3{epMtis and Conepatus, the range of individual variation is considerable, though by no means so great as has been assumed. The principal variables are four, namely, (1) cranial characters J (2) dental characters; (3) length of tail; (4) color markings. As a rule the variation in each species is between definite limits w^hich may be defined. The males are much larger than the females and have considerably longer tails. Color and marJcings.—The color markings are constant in pattern throughout the genus^ the only variation being in the quantity of white, the widest extremes being the result of the extension or suppression of some of the markings. In the young the ground color is intensely black and the markings are pure white. As age advances, the markings be- come creamy yellow, and in w^orn states of the pelage and old museum specimens the black becomes dull brown. General remarks on cranial characters and variation.—As already stated, there are two well-marked groups in the genus Spilogale—one having the cranium broad and flat, with the fronto-parietal region de- liressed to the general plane of the to]) of the skull; the other having the cranium relatively narrow and more highly arched, with the fronto- parietal region somewhat elevated, (See tigs. 1 and 2.). Fig. 1.—T
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