The skunks are not only widely distributed in North America, occupying perhaps a larger area in the austral than they do in the boreal region, but are influenced to a less extent by climatic and topographic conditions than probably any other genera among our mammals. It lives among mountains and on plateaus and plains, and in forests as well as on the open prairies, and extends from humid regions like eastern Canada and New England to the dry, semi-desert valley of New Mexico, and from the cold shores of the Great Lakes and central Canada to the warm Gulf States. Although offensive, and everywhere declared a nuisance, and persecuted as such, as well as trapped and hunted for its pelt, its range has been decreased but little since the settlement of the country by Europeans, although its numbers are greatly reduced. Its beautiful fur when deodorized and dyed of a uniform black is sold under the name "Alaskan sable," "black marten," "American sable," etc., and is extensively worn even by the most fashionably attired dames of every land. _The Bears._--Of the bears native to North America, as was stated by S. F. Baird in 1857, the number of species is somewhat indefinite, but four are commonly recognised and mention is sometimes made of two others. This uncertainty as to the number of species of the genus _Ursus_, I believe, still exists, and in itself is significant. If the bears have not been satisfactorily classified, as is apparently the case, it suggests that they exhibit great variations and that the drawing of hard and fast specific boundaries among them is difficult, and perhaps impossible. The species which are usually recognised are the polar bear, the grizzly, the cinnamon, and the black. Of the black and brown or cinnamon bears there seems to be several varieties, some of which are perhaps worthy of being considered species. On the other hand, it must be remembered that Baird and others makes the cinnamon a variety of the black bear. Again the grizzly and cinnamon intergrade in such a manner that an experienced naturalist has considered them to be but extremes of a single species.