These form part of the Plantigrada of Cuvier and part of the
Digitigrada; they walk on their toes, but at the same time keep the
wrist and heel much nearer to the ground than do the true Digitigrades,
and sometimes rest on them. Of those Semi-plantigrades with which
we now have to deal there are three sections, viz., the _Mustelidae_,
containing the Gluttons, Martens, Weasels, Ferrets, Grisons, &c.,
the _Melidae_, _Melididae_ and _Melinidae_ of various authors: i.e.
Badgers, Ratels, and Skunks; and the _Lutridae_ or Otters. Some
writers bring them all under one great family, _Mustelidae_, but the
above tripartite arrangement is, I think, better for ordinary
purposes. To the mind of only moderate scientific attainments, a
distinct classification of well-defined groups is always an easier
matter than a large family split up into many genera defined by
internal anatomical peculiarities.

Of the Semi-plantigrades at large Jerdon remarks: "None of them have
more than one true molar above and another below, which, however,
vary much in development, and the flesh tooth is most marked in those
in which the tuberculate is least developed, and _vice versa_. The
great and small intestines differ little in calibre, and many of them
(i.e. the family) can diffuse at will a disgusting stench." This last
peculiarity is a specialty of the American members of the family,
notably the skunk, of the power of which almost incredible stories
are told. I remember reading not long ago an account of a train
passing over a skunk, and for a time the majority of the passengers
suffered from nausea in consequence. Sir John Richardson writes: "I
have known a dead skunk thrown over the stockades of a trading port
produce instant nausea in several women in a house with closed doors,
upwards of a hundred yards distant." The secretion is intensely
inflammatory if squirted in the eye.

MELIDIDAE; OR, BADGER-LIKE ANIMALS.

This group is distinguished by a heavier form, stouter limbs, coarse
hair, and slower action; in most the claws are adapted for burrowing.
None of them are arboreal, although in olden times marvellous tales
were told of the wolverene or glutton as being in the habit of
dropping down from branches of trees on the backs of large animals,
clinging on to them and draining their life blood as they fled. Some
of them are capable of emitting a noisome smell. The teledu of Java
(_Mydaus meliceps_) is the worst of the family in this respect,