ML'STEl.lIKi: 



57i 



The Sea-Otter (L. lutris, Fig. 262) is the sole representative of 

 this genus. The entire length of the animal from nose to end of 

 tail is about 4 feet, so that the body is considerably larger and 

 more massive than that of the English Otter. The skin is peculiarly 

 loose, and stretches when removed from the animal so as to give 

 the idea of a still larger creature than it really is. The pellage is 

 remarkable for the preponderance of the beautifully soft woolly 

 under fur, the longer stiffer hairs being very scanty. The general 

 colour is a deep liver brown, everywhere silvered or frosted with 

 the hoary tips of the longer hairs. These are, however, removed 

 when the skin is dressed for commercial purposes. 



Fie 262.— The Sea-Otter (Lataa lutris). From Wolf, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1865, pi. vii. 



Sea-Otters are only found upon the rocky shores of certain 

 parts of the North Pacific Ocean, especially the Aleutian Islands 

 and Alaska, extending as far south on the American coast as Oregon ; 

 but, owing to the unremitting persecution to which they are sub- 

 jected for the sake of their skins, which rank among the most 

 valuable known to the furrier, their numbers are greatly diminish- 

 ing, and, unless some restriction can be placed upon their destruc- 

 tion, such as that which protects the Fur-Seals of the Pribyloff 

 Islands, the species is threatened with extermination, or, at all 

 events, excessive scarcity. When this occurs, the occupation of 

 five thousand of the half-civilised natives of Alaska, who are 

 dependent upon Sea-Otter hunting as a means for obtaining their 

 living, will be gone. The principal hunting grounds at present are 

 the little rocky islets and reefs around the island of Saanach and 



