356 



CAHNIVOIJA 



1816. ? Lutra fluviaiilis Leach, Syst. Catal. Spec. Inclig. Mamni. and 



Birds Brit. Mus. , p. G (nomen nudum : '' River Otter "). 

 1827. [Lutra vulgaris] (8 marinus Billberg, Synopsis Faunas Scandinavia, 



p. 28 (Coasts of Scandinavia). 

 1830. ?[Luti-a] fluviatilis Burnett, Quart. Journ. Sci. Lit. Art. xxviii, 



1829, p. 349 (Substitute for lutra), nomen nudum. 

 1834. \_Lutra] nudipes Melchior, Den Danskc Stats og Norges Pattedyr, 



p. 50 (Coast of northern Norway). 

 1834. Lutra roensis Ogilby, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. Ill (Roe Mills, 



near Newton Lemavaddy, Londonderry, Ireland). Type in British 



Museum. 

 1857. Lut7'a vulgaris Blasius, Siiugethiere Deutschlands, p. 237. 



1884. ILzitra'] lutra Lataste, Actes Soc. Linn, de Bordeaux, xxxviii,p. 34. 



1885. [Lutra] angustifrons Lataste, Actes Soc. Linn, de Bordeaux, xxxix, 



p. 168, August, 1885 (Bone, Algeria). Perhaps in part only : 

 specimen from Liguria, Italy, referred to this form on p. 239, 

 September, 1885. Type in Lataste collection. 

 1910. Lutra lutra Trouessart, Paune Mamm. d'Europe, p. 86. 



Type hiraUty. — Upsala, Sweden. 



Geugrapliical distribution. — Europe and northern Africa, east- 

 ward into Asia ; limits of range not known. In Europe west to 

 Ireland and north to the Arctic coast. 



Diagnosis. — Size medium (head and body in adult male about 

 700 mm., condylobasal length of skull, 105 to 123); tail about 

 three-quarters as long as head and body ; naked muzzle pad with 

 upper border strongly convex at middle ; skull much flattened, 

 the depth of brain-case not conspicuously more than lialf mastoid 

 breadth ; interorbital region narrow, its least width less than 

 distance from front of zygoma to anterior extremity of pre- 

 maxillary ; teeth not specially enlarged, the greatest diameter of 

 upper carnassial not greater than width of palate between 

 carnassials. 



External characters. — General form long and slender, the 

 limbs very short, the feet liroad, with conspicuously webbed toes, 

 the head short flat and ill-defined from neck, the ears incon- 

 spicuous, the tail long, broad at base, tapering toward tip, 

 covered with the same short waterproof fur as body. Head 

 rounded and flattened, not well defined externally from the 

 muscular neck ; ear rounded, densely haired on both surfaces, 

 scarcely rising above level of fur, tlie antitragal lobe valve-like; 

 a second and third valve-like lobe above and behind meatus ; 

 muzzle short and wide, the nostril pad entirely naked, its 

 surface reticulate, its upper margin strongly convex at middle, 

 the lower slightly so, its lower border separated from mouth by 

 the densely haired upper lip, the width of which at middle is 

 about equal to height of pad ; whiskers stiff and bristly, the 

 longest extending about to ear when laid back. Legs short, feet 

 broad and rounded, with shoi't toes joined by a naked membrane 

 extending to base of terminal phalanges ; claws short but strong, 

 non-retractile, those on fore-feet best developed (about 8 mm. in 



