LUTRA LEPTONYX, 89 



rough. Colour rich chestnut-brown above, golden-red below, and on the 

 extremities, Length, head and body, 20 to 22 inches; tail 12 to 13. 



Blyth, in his Catalogue, has " No. 215, Z. , very like L. nair, but 



specimens, with adult dentition, smaller by one half, or nearly so. Found 

 only at great elevations in Ceylon." This is probably the same as the small 

 otter of the Neelgherries, referred to by some writers in the " Bengal 

 Sporting Review," &c. ; by some called the black otter, by others the 

 red one; and is perhaps the same as Hodgson's L. auro-hrunnea. 



Hodgson has indicated other otters fi-om the Himalayas. In the 

 Malayan peninsula, besides L. nair, there is another, Lutra barang, Raffles. 



The next otters have the claws very minute, not projecting, but im- 

 bedded in the phalanx, the foremost upper preemolars often naturally 

 wanting ; they have been separated generically as Aonyx, Lesson. 

 The third and fourth toes exceed the others in length, and are more 

 closely united. Lesson's genus was founded on a Cape species, Lutra 

 nunguis. One is found in India extending into Malayana. 



102. Lutra leptonyx. 



HoRSPiELD, Zool. Res. Java, with figure. — Blyth, Cat. 217. — Aonyx 

 Ilorfifieldii, Gray. — L. indigitata, and Aonyx sikimensis, Hodgson. — 

 Chusam, Bhot. — Suriain, Lepcli. 



The Clawless Otter. 



Descr. — Above earthy-brown or chestnut-brown ; lips, sides of head, 

 chin, throat, and upper part of breast white, tinged with yellowish-gray. 

 In young individuals the white of the lower parts is less distinct, some- 

 times very pale-brownish. 



Length, head and body, 24 inches ; tail 13 ; palm 2| ; planta 3 J. 



This otter has been found throughout the Himalayas, from the North- 

 west to Sikim ; also in lower Bengal, in Arrakan, down to the islands, &c. 

 I saw one killed close to Calcutta at the edge of the salt-water lake. It 

 had not previously been recorded from lower Bengal. 



Tribe, Digitigrada. 



Syn. Cynodia, Blyth, in part. 



In walking, the digits alone are placed on the ground. These are the 

 most typical of the Carnivora, and most of them are very speedy and 

 quick in their actions. 



They diflfer from the previous tribes in having a small caecum. 



