GIBB OX THE MUSTELID.C OF NORTHUMBERLAND. .3Q7 



comma, L. phragmitidis, N, despecta, 

 G.Jiavago, X. sublustris, X. hepatica, 

 X. scolopacina, H. popularis, C. gra- 

 minis, A. connexa, A. saucia, A. 

 triticl, T. janthlna, T. Jlmhria, N. 

 glareosa, N. brunnea, N. Dahlil, 0- 

 suspecta, X. citrago, X. cerago, X. 

 silago, O. diffinis, C. affinis, D. cap- 



sincola, P.Jlavocincta, E. vvimmlis, 

 C. verbasci. A. myrtilll, A. luctuosa, 

 P. V-aureum, A. pyramidea, T. pas- 

 tinum. — Parties not receiving an 

 answer within one week, may con- 

 sider I am not in want of their 

 insects. — William Talbot, Mount 

 Pleasant, Wakefield. 



©rightal "^xixtkn. 



NOTES ON THE MUSTELID.E OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 



No. 1 : — The Otter. 



bt t. h. gibb. 



Otter {Lutra vulgaris.) — Representatives of all the British Mustelidse 

 are to be met with in Northumberland, these embrace Martes abietum, 

 Putorius fcetidus, Miistela fiiro, Mustela vulgaris, Mustela ermina, Meles 

 Taxus, and Liitr a vulgaris, and believing that a few brief notes respecting 

 each genus of this interesting family may not be altogether uninteresting 

 to the readers of the *' Naturalist," I am induced to offer them, beginning 

 with the last named, Lutra vulgaris. Perhaps of all our indigenous 

 mammalia, there is not one with which we have less acquaintance than 

 the otter. Its nocturnal and crepuscular habits, its extreme intuitive 

 caution, and the readiness with which it can in its native haunts conceal 

 every movement, render it at all times a difficult matter to obtain even a 

 passing glimpse of this predacious denizen of our sylvan trout streams. 

 He who would witness him in his native wilds, must be possessed of no 

 small amount of perseverance. Evening after evening, he must place 

 himself in ambush where an otter is known to frequent, and if after 

 repeated watchings he fails to discover him, he must try and try again 

 until his efforts are crowned with success, when I feel assured he will be 

 amply repaid for all his anxious " hours of vigil," for I know of no finer 

 sight in nature than to see a pair of otters in the sweet twilight of a 

 summer's eve, performing their graceful evolutions in some limpid stream. 

 They will lead you into the loveliest glades and most romantic dells, 

 *' 'mongst budding hazel groves," and where " the pensive willow sweeps 

 the ambient pool," for these are their especial haunts. 



