113. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



CARNivoRA cnntiiuicd — mu.stelid.t; — weasels, polecats, otters, badgers. 



It lias been proposed to divide this family into various sections, which, when limited to the 

 more marked species, are excellent divisions, but when other (transition) species are taken 

 into account will not answer, as the transition species fill up the intervals between the proposed 

 sections so comi^letely as to destroy the characters ou which they are founded. De Blaiuvillc, for 

 instance, proposed to separate the Badgers, the Polecats and Weasels, imder the name of Siibiirsini, 

 or little Bears. This looks very natural, the Badger having much more resemblance to a Bear 

 than a "Weasel, but then, by means of the genus Mephitis, or the Skimks, the Badgers glide 

 imperceptibly into the Polecats, so that it becomes a better arrangement to keep them all in one 

 group. TJiat group for our present piirposes, however, may be conveniently divided into the Otters, 

 the AVeasels, the Polecats, the Skunks, the Badgers, and the Wolverenes or Gluttons. 



About half of this family is found in Noith and South America ; a sixth in Southern Asia, 

 that is to say, in India, Malacca, and the Indian Archipelago ; a ninth is found in Europe 

 and North Asia, or Asia and North America ; another ninth is confined to North Asia ; and 

 the remaining ninth belongs to Africa and the Mediterranean district. None are peculiar to 

 Europe alone ; but about nine species are spread over the whole extent of the north of Europe 

 and Asia. One species is found botli in Europe and North America, and two in both 

 America and Asia. The family is better represented in cold and temperate climates than in 

 warmer countries, and even in the latter many of the tropical species are only found in moun- 

 tainous districts or at high elevations, or in some way or other indicate that they arc not 

 naturally tropical in their character. 



Fossil remains of extinct species have been found in recent deposits both in the Old and 

 New World in the same districts as arc now inhabited by existing species. 



Otters. (Map 23.) The common English Otter is found all over Europe and the north of Asia 

 as far as Jajian, but is becoming scarce, it being much sought after for its fur ; a good skin is worth 

 as much as 3/. or 4/. on the spot. It must have abounded in former times in Ireland, as we read of 

 their skins being an article of commerce, felting forming a large part of the exports of Ii-eland in 

 very early times.* Besides the common Otter and the Sea Otter, Enhyuris marina, which is 



* " III 140a we find John, sou of DermoJ, cliarged with This, which is the last entry accessible relative to the 



two otters' skius for his rent of Radon (Rathdown) for family of Gillamoehohnog, is recorded in an unpublished 



the same j-ear ; five otters' skins for the two years and a Pipe Roll of 10 Henry IV." — See the "History of Dublin," 



half preceding ; and one hundred and sixty-two otters' by J. T. Gilbert, quoted in a paper by Mr. Wilde, on the 



skins for the arrears of their rent for many years then past, Unmanufactured Animal Remains belonging to the Aca- 



making a total of one hundroJ and sixty-uinc otters' skius. demy, in "Transactions of Royal Irish Academy," May, 1859. 



Q 



