I'd. LUTRONECTES. ' 107 



(2) Lutra parayuensis, Rengger, Siiugeth. v. Paraguay, p. 128; 

 Wagner, Schreb. Siiugeth. ii. p. 21G ; Burm. La Plata, ii. p. 410. 

 Nutria, Azara, Quad. i. p. 304. — Hah. Paraguay. 



(3) Lutra? aterrima, Sehrenek, Amurland, p. 43; Viverra ater- 

 rima, Pallas, Zoogr. Ross.-Asiat. i. p. 81 ; Mustela aterrima, Pallas, 

 MiddendoriF, Sibirisclie Reise, i. p. 70. — Hah. Sea of Ochotsk. 



13. LUTRONECTES. 



The muzzle bald, oblong, transverse, with a straight upper and 

 lower edge ; the upper edge of the nostril bald. Ears oblong, hairy. 

 Feet rather large ; toes strong, webbed, covered with hair above, and 

 bald beneath ; toes and palm -puds well developed, those of the palm 

 separated from the toes by a broad bald space ; claws strong, acute. 

 Tail conical, covered with hair. Skull elongate ; orbit very obscurely 

 defined behind ; the flesh-tooth with a large internal lobe about two- 

 thirds of the length of the outer edge. 



The toes in this genus are strong, thick, and well webbed, rather 

 larger than in the typical Otters. 



The skulls are not quite the normal skulls of the genus Lutra, as 

 they have scarcely au indication of any tubercle defining the upper 

 hinder portion of the orbit, and only a very obscure angle on the 

 front of the zygomatic process, defining, or rather separating the 

 lower hinder part of the orbit from the mastoid cavity. In this 

 respect the skulls are nearly intermediate in form between the skulls 

 of HydrogaJe and Baranr/ia ; they have the hinder edge of the orbit 

 above and below rather more defined than in Hi/Jrogale, and yet less 

 so than in Barangia, where the protuberances that define the orbit 

 behind are miich smaller than in Hi/drogale. 



The genus differs from Hijdrogah in the skin between the pads 

 being bald as in the tnie Otters {Lutra). It agrees with Hydrogah 

 and Lutra in the muzzle being entii'cly bald and square between the 

 nostrils ; while in Barangia the muzzle is entirely covered with hair. 



The nose of the skixll is short ; the nasal aperture very oblique, 

 edged on each side by the narrow intermaxiUaries, which are continued 

 up and separate the front half of the nasal from the maxillae ; the 

 infraorbital foramen is verj- large ; the nasal extends back as far as 

 the hinder edge of the maxilla on its sides. 



Leutronectes Whiteleyi. R.M. 



Dark brown ; cheeks, lips, chin, and throat greyish white. 

 ? Lutra vulgaris, Tvmm. Fauna Japonica, p. 35 ; Schrmch, Reisen i: i 



Atnurlande, p. 43. 

 Lutrouectes Wliitelej-i, Gray, P. Z. S. 1867, p. 181. 



JIah. Japan. 



l>ike many other Otters, these so closely resemble the Common 

 European Otter that I am not surprised that M. Temminck should 

 have confounded them with tliat species. 



Length of body and head 17i, of tail 10 inches. 



