July, 1909. The Irish Naturalist. 141 



ON THE OCCURRENCE OF A SPECKLED OTTER 



IN IRELAND. 



BY R. F. SCHARFF, M.R.I. A. 



[Plate 2.] 

 Thk National Museum of Ireland recently acquired from INIr. 

 W. J. Williams, of Dublin, a full-grown Otter, which differs 

 from ordinar}^ otters, in that its rich brown fur is dotted 

 all over with white spots, as shown in the accompanying illus- 

 tration (Plate 2). It was trapped in Lough Sheelin, which 

 lies partly in the Count}- Cavan and partl}^ in Westmeath. 



The fur, as a rule, is of a rich chestnut brown in Irish 

 Otters. It is composed of two parts, the w^oolly under-fur 

 and the longer stiffer hairs projecting beyond this. The 

 colour of the under-fur is very light grey changing to greyish- 

 brown above, while the longer hairs are chestnut brown 

 throughout. On closely examining an Otter skin we some- 

 times find that the under-fur is not quite uniformly coloured 

 throughout. Here and there, separated by wide spaces, very 

 small perfectly white tufts are met with in the under-fur. 

 When these occur in such large patches as to be clearly 

 noticeable, their presence impairs the value of the skin from 

 a furrier's point of view. Mr. Williams informs me that, 

 occasionall}', amounting to about i per cent, of the skins pre- 

 pared by him for the fur trade, the skins are speckled in this 

 manner. The whiteness, however, in these cases, is still 

 hidden to some extent, in the unprepared skin, b}- the brown 

 colour of the long hairs. It is only after removal of the hairs 

 by the furrier that the white spots become plainh^ visible. 



In the specimen here figured, not only has the under-fur 

 white patches of variable size, but the whiteness extends even 

 to the long hairs, giving the Otter a most peculiar speckled 

 appearance. Mr. Williams tells me that, among several 

 thousands of skins that have passed through his hands, 

 this is the only specimen of that kind he has seen. 



From the Royal Irish Academj- Fauna and Flora Com- 

 mittee's records, I find that perfectly white Otters have been 

 observed in the River Shannon, being, presumabh% true 

 albinos, and recorded in the Field (vol. xci., 1898, pp. 

 141-42). We know that an albino Otter from Scotland is 

 preserved in the Belfast Museum, but the only record of a 

 speckled Otter that I have noticed is of one supposed to be in 



