MAMMALS LUTRINAE ENHYDRA MARINA. 189 



ENHYDRA, Fleming. 



"Enhydra, FLEMING, Philos. Zool. II, 187." 

 " Enydris, LICHT. Darstellung, &c. 



SP. CH. Fore feet, fin-like in shape ; anteriorly four-lobed ; the lobe next to the outer longest, with two claws above ; hind 

 toes becoming shorter from the fifth to the first. 



The sea otter, the sole representative of the genus as far as known, is an exceedingly remark 

 able animal, with perhaps more resemblance to a seal than to the common otters. The head is 

 short and very broad ; the nose obtuse, with a naked mufflle, and with three rows of stiff horny 

 bristles. The digits of the fore feet are very short and firmly bound up in a thickened membrane, 

 which on the palmar surface is naked and granular. The hand is divided into four lobes, 

 representing the digits, excepting the third and fourth, which are bound together and bear two 

 claws above. The hind feet have the outer toes the longest, the rest descending from the fifth 

 to first ; the under surface hairy, except under the balls of the toes The hind feet are directed 

 much further backwards than in the common otters, in this respect resembling the seals, except 

 that in the latter the hind feet are crescentic in shape, owing to the middle toes being shorter 

 than the lateral. 



The skull and teeth of the sea otter differ very appreciably from those of the true otters, and 

 well substantiate the generic separation of the two. The first small premolar of the upper jaw 

 on either side is wanting, making the total number two less, or thirty-four in all. 



ENHYDRA MARINA. 



Sea Otter. 



" Lutra marina, STELLER, Nov. Comm. Petrop. II, 1751, 367; tab. xvi." 

 ERXLEBEN, Syst. 1777, 445. 

 SCHREBER, Saugt. Ill, 1778, 465; pi. cxxviii. 

 DESMAREST, Mam. 1, 1820, 189. 

 HARLAN, F. A. 1825, 72. 

 GODMAN, Am. N. H. I, 1831, 228. 

 WAGNER, in Wiegm. Archiv, 1836, II, 281. 

 " Enhydra marina, FLEMING, Phil. Zool. II, 1822, 187." 

 GRIFF. Cuv. V, 1827, 132. 



MARTIN, Pr. Zool. Soc. IV, 1836, 59. (Osteology.) 

 AUD. & BACH N. A. Quad. Ill, 1853, 170; pi. cxxxvii. 

 Enydris marina, LICHT. Darst. Saugt. 1827, 34; tab. xlix, 1. 

 ERMAN, Reise urn die Welt ; tab. xi, xii. 

 " WAGNER, Gelehrte Anzeige, I, 555." 

 WAGNER, Suppl. Schreb. II, 1841, 274. 

 Latax marina, LESSON, Nouv. Tabl. R. A. 1842, 71. 

 Mustela lulris, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 66. 



GM. Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 92. 



Phoca lulris, PALLAS, Zoog. Rosso-As. I, 1831, 100. 

 Lutra lutris, F. Cuv. Suppl. Buff. I, Mammif. 1831, 204. 

 Enydris stelleri, (" Less. Man.") FISCHER, Syn. 1829, 229. 

 Enydris gracilis, FISCHER, Syn. 1829,229. 



Sea otter, PENNANT, Hut. Quad. 1781, No. 230. IB. Arctic Zool. 1. 

 1784, 88. (Leverian Museum.) 



