MUSTELID.E 233 



tlie fine dense fur; head brownish white; neck gravish brown; 

 ears very smaU and situated low on the side of the head ; skin 

 very loose on the body. In summer the long pale hairs are more 

 numerous, producing- a grizzled appearance. 



Length about 1200 mm. (48 inches) ; tail vertebrae 280 

 (11) ; hind foot 150 (6) by 100 (4) in breadth. 



Type locality, San Miguel Island, Santa Barbara group. Cal- 

 ifornia. 



Sea Otters were formerly more or less common along the 

 whole Pacific Coast from Lower California to Alaska and around 

 to Japan. They are now rare everywhere. A very few are still 

 living about the islands off the coasts of Lower and southern 

 California. The fur of the Sea Otter is the most valuable of 

 any single skin known, the price of the finest skins running up 

 into the hundreds of dollars. 



Sea Otters frequent kelp beds among rocky islets, where- 

 they feed on mussels, clams, sea urchins and other mollusks, fish 

 and kelp. They are excessively shy, and their senses are very 

 acute; hence they are very difficult to obtain. The single young 

 are brought forth at any season, the intervals apparently being 

 more than a vear. The voung are said to suckle more than a vear. 



Genus Lutra Brtsson. (Otter.) 

 Feet sliort, broad, full webbed, the hind feet of normal 

 shape; last upper premolar distinctly sectorial; tail long, taper- 

 ing, not flattened. 



Dental formula, L 3 — 3 ; C, i — i ; P, 3 — 3 ; M, i — 2, X2=34. 



Lutra canadensis pacifica Rhoaus. (Of the Pacific Slope) 



PACIFIC OTTER. 



Dark liver brown, paler on the under side of the head, 

 throat and breast ; size averaging larger than typical canadensis. 



Length about 1300 mm. (62 inches) ; tail vertebrae 46a 

 (18); hind foot 140 (4-5o). 



