MAMMALS LUTRINAE LUTRA CANADENSIS. 185 



muzzle is gently semi-circular, and anteriorly sends down a narrow point, dividing the hair 

 of the lip over about one-sixth of its length. The nostrils are large and open, their posterior 

 line extending not beyond the centre of the naked muffle. 



The whiskers are arranged in numerous rows, the precise number not being determinable in 

 the dry skins examined by me. There is a clump of three or four stiff bristles over the eye, a 

 rather larger number behind the eye, several behind the angle of the mouth, and some scattered 

 under the chin. The eyes are very small, the orbits not exceeding half an inch in length. 

 The ear is small, tapering, but rounded at the tip, rather higher than wide, (a little more than 

 half an inch.) The eye is considerably in advance of the median point between the ear and tip 

 of muLzle. 



The feet are broad and webbed to a point opposite the root of the claws, the greater portion of 

 the terminal naked pads being free. In the fore feet the palms or under surfaces are entirely 

 hairy, excepting the central basal portion, which is naked and papillose; there is, however, a 

 small peninsula of hair extending forward in this naked space from below the carpal joint. 

 The pads at the ends of the toes are naked, but they are entirely cut off from the naked central 

 portion by the hairy area. The fingers, when spread out, have their tips nearly in the circum 

 ference of a semi-circle described from the centre of the palm as a centre, the central one rather 

 longer. When laid side by side, the third finger is longest, the fourth and second successively 

 a little shorter ; the first shorter than the fifth. 



The characteristics of the hind feet are much like those of the fore feet, the inside surfaces or 

 soles are hairy over the membranes, the central basal portion being naked. The naked pads 

 are entirely isolated from the central bare spots by the hair on the membrane. The extreme 

 posterior portion of the heel is hairy. In the naked surface posteriorly are three small tuber 

 cles. The tips of the claws, when the foot is outspread, are nearly in the circumference of a 

 circle. When the toes are close together the fourth claw projects furthest, the third is but little 

 shorter ; the second reaches to the base of the third ; that of the fifth falls short of the base of the 

 fourth ; that of the first reaches the penultimate articulation of the second toe. 



The general color of the outer fur in a Washington specimen examined is a highly lustrous 

 dark liver brown, but little lighter on the belly. The under fur here is, however, decidedly 

 lighter, which imparts this general character to the pelage. On the sides of the head below 

 the eyes, (including the lips,) and on the chin, extending along the throat to between the legs, 

 the color is a dirty whitish, tinged with brown. The under fur generally is of a yellowish 

 white, like raw silk, at the base, and light liver brown at the tip, the latter color predominating 

 on the back, the former on the belly and sides. The legs and upper surfaces of the tail are 

 rather darker than elsewhere. 



A skin of an otter from Fort Wayne agrees essentially with that described above, except in 

 having rather less hair on the under surfaces of the membrane of the fore feet. 



A small otter (18*77) from Fort Kearney is quite similar in the character of the feet. There 

 appears, however, to be a greater space between the naked muffle and the edge of the lip ; the 

 width being rather greater than the length. The lower outline of the muffle is straight ; the 

 upper quite acute, as described. 



There has been considerable uncertainty in reference to the number of species of otters in the 



interior of the United States, and some naturalists have even insisted that there was but one, 



and that identical with the European Lutra vulgaris. Of the incorrectness of this latter view, 



a comparison of specimens will at once convince the observer. Whether we have two species 



24 L 



