684 THE CARNIVORES 



advantage of by the native fishermen of some Oriental countries to aid them in their 

 avocations. The late Bishop Heber, when voyaging up one of the rivers of Bengal, 

 states that his vessel passed ' ' a row of no less than nine or ten large and very beau- 

 tiful otters tethered with straw collars and long strings to the bambo stakes on the 

 banks. Some were swimming about at the full extent of their strings, or lying half 

 in and half out of the water; others were rolling themselves in the sun on the sandy 

 bank, uttering a shrill whistling noise, as if in play. I was told that most of the 

 fishermen in the neighborhood kept one or more of these animals, who were almost 

 as tame as dogs and of great use in fishing, sometimes driving the shoals into the 

 nets, sometimes bringing out the larger fish with their teeth." According to later 

 authorities it appears, however, that the bishop was misinformed as to the otters be- 

 ing employed to catch fish with their teeth, their sole use in India being to drive 

 the latter into the nets. In China, on the other hand, otters are actually employed 

 in the former operation. 



H ,. Otter hunting in England has been already alluded to briefly under 



the head of the otterhound; and from the facts there mentioned it will 

 be gathered that these animals are still fairly numerous in many of the wilder parts 

 of the country. 



Otter fur, from its close texture, fine gloss, and rich color, is much 

 Pelage 



esteemed as a trimming, and commands a rather high price in the 



market. A large number of the otter skins exported to England belong, how- 

 ever, to the North- American species. Skins of the European species vary from one 

 to seven dollars in price. 



.. Fossil remains of the common otter have been obtained from the 



r ossil Kemams 



superficial deposits and caverns of England and the Continent, and 

 likewise from the so-called " forest bed" of the Eastern Coast, which is somewhat 

 older. A fossil otter from the still more ancient Norwich Crag, belonging to the 

 upper portion of the Pliocene period has, moreover, been identified with the present 

 species. 



This otter (L. canadensis] is distinguished from the preceding by the 



much larger size of the naked area at the tip of the muzzle, which ex- 

 can Otter 



tends far above and to the sides of the nostrils, instead of being en- 

 tirely confined to the space between them, as in the latter. According to Dr. Coues, 

 it is very variable in point of size and color. It may, however, attain a total length 

 of four feet or more, while the general color of the fur is liver brown with a purplish 

 gloss, the chin, throat, and under parts being paler. This species occurs over the 

 whole of North America in suitable regions, although apparently nowhere very 

 numerous; its northern range extending along the Mackenzie and other rivers nearly 

 to the Arctic Ocean. 



There does not appear much that is especially noteworthy or pecu- 

 liar in the habits of this species. Dr. Hart Merriam states that in the 

 Adirondack region the number of fresh-water crawfish consumed by these otters is 

 enormous, this crustacean apparently forming as important a portion of their food 

 as fish. The same writer also bears testimony as to the long journeys undertaken 

 by the North- American otter from river to river across country; these journeys 



