:>o. 2333. MAMMALIA COLLECTED IN PERU BY HELLER— THOMAS. 225 



believed to be one of those that distinguished the Chilean skunk, 

 C. chififfa, from all the forms of Peru and Bolivia. 



With regard to nomenclature all may for the present bear the name 

 <7. arequipae, the type of which falls obviously into the same series, 

 while C. chorensis (now that we know that the direction of the nape 

 hairs is not a trustworthy character) and C. porcinus (if any mistake 

 has been made as to the sexing of the type) may have to be united 

 with the same animal. But the male skull of C. chorensis is a little 

 smaller than that of arequipae. 



The largest male skull of the present series, No. 194319, measures 

 83.2 mm. in condylobasal length. 



22, LUTRA EMERITA Thomas (or COLOMBIANA Allen). 



Female, No. 194325, Eio Comberciato (2,000 feet). Contained two 

 small embryos. 



Allowing for the sexual difference in the size of the skull, this 

 specimen agrees remarkably well, especially in the shape of its nose 

 pad, with the type of L. emerita^ which may, however, prove to be 

 synonymous with Allen's L. coloTnbicma^ a species I overlooked when 

 writing my notes on South American otters in 1908.^ The species 

 would therefore seem to range all the way down the Andean chain 

 on its eastern slope. 



On the other hand, fi'om quite near the present locality, the two 

 examples of L. incainim Thomas, as explained in the origmal de- 

 scription, both show the form of the nose pad found in L. platensis, 

 so that we have here otters with both types of nose pad occurring in 

 the same locality. Whether the value of the character needs revision 

 only much further material will show. 



Another otter with the emerita t3^pe of nose pad is the South 

 Chilian L. provocax^ whose northward extension we do not yet 

 know. There has been some doubt about the name of this animal, 

 as it is certainly the species called Lutra huidohria by Gray and 

 others, who based their use of the name on Molina's " Castor huido- 

 hrius.^^ But I am not prepared to recognize as an otter a species 

 described as having long rodent incisors and unpalmated forefeet, 

 and think that in view of the insoluble mixture of local names, 

 habits, and characters contained in Molina's description the name 

 Castor huidohrius should be set aside as indeterminable. 



1 After its return from London I submitted this otter to Dr. J. A. Allen for com- 

 parison with Lutra colomhiana. He writes as follows (Dec. 5, 1919) : " I have care- 

 fully compared the skin and skull of the otter from Peru with the type and two other 

 specimens of my Lytra colomhiana. There are no appreciably external differences, but 

 the skull is slightly larger and more heavily built, wit:h noticeably stouter teeth ; also the 

 pterygoid fossa is slightly longer and narrower. The Peruvian form should probably 

 be considered as subspeciflcally separable from colomhiana. The specimens I have been 

 able to compare are all females and of about the same age as the Peruvian specimen." — 

 <3. S. M., Jr. 



181404— 21— Prnc.N.M.vol..58 15 



