OTTERS. 97 



There is also the much smaller Indian clawless otter (L. cinerea) 



Clawless Otter. . 7 > 



differing from the others not only by its inferior dimensions, but 



also by the rudimentary condition, or even total absence, of the claws. The upper 

 teeth (shown in the figure on p. 91) are distinguished by the absence of the first 

 premolar, and the great length from front to back of the molar tooth. Moreover, 

 the whole skull is much shorter than in the other species. The length of the head 

 and body of this otter varies from 22 to 24 inches, and that of the tail from 10| to 

 13 inches. The clawless otter ranges from India through Burma and the Malay 

 Peninsula and islands to China. In India it occurs in the Himalaya at low eleva- 

 tions, in Lower Bengal and the Nilgiri Hills of Madras, and perhaps also in Ceylon. 

 It appears to be the only otter found in Java. According to Mr. Blanford, the 

 habits of this otter are similar to those of the other oriental species. 



The whole African continent possesses but two members of the 

 ' group under consideration. The first of these is the African clawless 

 otter (L. capensis), from South and West Africa, which, while agreeing with the 

 Indian clawless otter in the rudimentary condition of its claws, is distinguished 

 by its greatly superior dimensions ; being, next to the Brazilian otter, the largest 

 representative of the whole group. Writing of this species, which he alludes to 

 under another Latin name, the late Professor Moseley states that " amongst the 

 animals which live on the Cape Peninsula, the clawless otter is worthy of 

 mention ; it is a very large otter, twice or three times as large when full-grown as 

 the European one. It lives about the salt-marshes and lakes, and is tolerably 

 common ; it hunts, like the South American marine otter, in companies, but only 

 of three or four. It has no claws on the fore-feet, having lost them by natural 

 selection in some way or other, and on the hinder-feet the claws are wanting on 

 the outer toes, and only rudiments of them remain on the middle ones. There are, 

 however, pits marking the places where the claws used to exist. The webbing 

 between the toes is also in this otter rudimentary ; the beast altogether is very 

 heavily built, with the head very broad and powerful. It appears to be an otter 

 bent on returning to land habits." 



Spotted-Necked The spotted-necked otter (L. macidicollis) is one of the smaller 



otter. members of the group, with well-developed claws. It has a naked 

 nose, and very long hind-feet ; the colour of the fur being 

 blackish brown, with yellow spots on the throat, chest, and under- 

 pays. This otter has been obtained from the Cape and Natal. 



Reference has already been made to the occur- 

 Extinct Otters. „ . 



rence of the common otter in the superficial deposits 



of Europe, and also of an extinct species allied to the hairy-nosed 



otter in the Siwalik Hills of India. In addition to these, there mvaTr „ nnn ,„ nv 



are numerous extinct otters in the Pliocene and Miocene deposits an extinct indian 



of Europe, some of which appear to connect existing forms with 0TTER - 



the martens and their allies. Another is remarkable as appearing Tlie outer nd § e 



. • rr- ■ • i i i • ii ^ e " su ' e of n g ure ) i s 



to indicate affinities between the otters and the civets, and thus broken, 

 serves to confirm the previously-mentioned evidence as to the 

 existence of some relationship between the now widely divergent families of 

 the weasels and civets. The otter-like animal in question is distinguished from 

 vol. ii. — 7 



