mephitis mephitica

1 definition found

mephitis mephitica - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Skunk \Skunk\, n. [Contr. from the Abenaki (American Indian)
     seganku.] (Zool.)
     Any one of several species of American musteline carnivores
     of the genus Mephitis and allied genera. They have two
     glands near the anus, secreting an extremely fetid liquid,
     which the animal ejects at pleasure as a means of defense.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: The common species of the Eastern United States
           (Mephitis mephitica) is black with more or less white
           on the body and tail. The spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius
           ), native of the Southwestern United States
           and Mexico, is smaller than the common skunk, and is
           variously marked with black and white.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     Skunk bird, Skunk blackbird (Zool.), the bobolink; -- so
        called because the male, in the breeding season, is black
        and white, like a skunk.
  
     Skunk cabbage (Bot.), an American aroid herb (Symplocarpus  f[oe]tidus
        ) having a reddish hornlike spathe in earliest
        spring, followed by a cluster of large cabbagelike leaves.
        It exhales a disagreeable odor. Also called swamp  cabbage
        .
  
     Skunk porpoise. (Zool.) See under Porpoise.
        [1913 Webster]