LUTRA. 



LYCHNIS. 



559 



colonies, 1707 from the United States, 2 from Buenos Ayres, and 49 

 from all other places. They were almost wholly re-exported to Ger- 

 many and the Netherlands. Mr. Bell states that the number of 

 otter-skins imported into this country in 1830 was 713,115 ; in 1831, 

 494,067; in 1832, 222,493; and in 1833 only 23,889. In 1850 the 

 importation did not exceed 18,000. 



Fossil Otters. Jiiger notices the remains of a Lutra in the Beau 

 iron-ore (Bohnerz) of the Rauh Alp (tertiary) ; and Messrs, de Serres, 

 Dubrueil, and Jean-Jean record an extinct species (L. antiqua) in the 

 bone-caverns of Lunel-Vieil. The form was also detected in the Puy- 

 de-Dome by Messrs. Croizet and Jobert. The remains of L. vulgaris 

 are common in the fens qf Cambridgeshire. 



Enhydra. Dr. Fleming gives the following generic character of the 

 Sea-Otter under the above name : Six incisors above, and four below. 

 Tail much shorter than the body. No anal scent-bags. 



In Cook's ' Voyage ' it is stated that a young Sea-Otter was brought 

 on board with six lower incisors. Steller and succeeding systematists 

 give four as the number in the lower jaw. Sir John Richardson 

 suggests that two of the lower ones may drop out before the animal 

 become* adult. 



The fur is thick, woolly, and very soft, with the addition of a few 

 silky hairs of a lustrous black ; most of the upper parts are of a deep 

 velvety maroon-brown, and the anterior parts silvery-gray. Body 

 elongated ; tail short and stout ; hinder feet very short. 



. marina is the Sea-Beaver of Krascheninikoff ; the Sea-Otter of 

 Cook, Pennant, Meares, Menzies, and Godman ; the Kalan of the 

 Kamtchatkadales; MustelaLtttrisof Linnscus; Lutra marina of Steller, 

 Krxleben, and Harlan ; Loutre du Kamtchatka of the French. 



Sea-Otter (Enhydra manna). 



Captain Cook, in his last voyage (chapter on King George's Sound 

 Nootka), says : " It might have been sufficient to have mentioned 

 that this animal (the Sea-Otter) abounds here, as it is fully described 

 in different books, taken from the accounts of the Russian adventurers 

 in their expeditions eastward from Kamtchatka, if there had not been 

 a small difference in one that we saw. We for some time entertained 

 doubts whether the many skins which the natives brought really 

 belonged to this animal ; as our only reason for being of that opinion 

 was founded on the size, colour, and fineness of the fur ; till a short 

 while before our departure, when a whole one, that had been just 

 killed, was purchased from some strangers who came to barter ; and 

 of this Mr. Weber made a drawing. It was rather young, weighing 

 only 25 Ibs. ; of a shining or glossy black colour, but many of the 

 hairs being tipt with white gave it a grayish cast at first sight. The 

 face, throat, and breast were of a yellowish-white or very light-brown 

 colour, which in many of the skins extended the whole length of the 

 belly. It had six cutting teeth in each jaw ; two of those of the lower 

 jaw being very minute, and placed without, at the base of the two 

 middle ones. In these circumstances it seems to disagree with those 

 found by the Russians, and also in not having the outer toes of the 

 hind feet skirted by a membrane. There seemed also to be a greater 

 variety in the colour of the skins than is mentioned by the describers 

 of the Russian Sea-Otters. These changes of colour certainly take place 

 at the different gradations of life. The very young ones had brown 

 hair, which was coarse, with very little fur underneath ; but those of 

 the size of the entire animal which came into our possession, and just 

 described, had a considerable quantity of that substance ; and both in 

 that colour and state the Sea-Otters seem to remain till they have 

 attained their full growth. After that they lose the black colour, and 

 assume a deep brown or sooty coloar ; but have then a greater quantity 

 of very fine fur, and scarcely any long hairs. Others, which are sus- 

 pected to be still older, were of a chestnut-brown ; and a few skina 

 were seen that had even acquired a perfectly yellow colour. The fur 

 of these animals, as mentioned in the Russian accounts, is certainly 

 softer and finer than that of any others we know of; and therefore the 

 discovery of thi part of the continent of North America, where so 



valuable an article of commerce may be met with, cannot be a matter 

 of indifference." 



The Sea-Otter haunts sea-washed rocks, livea mostly in the water, 

 and approximates to the seals more than to the otters in its habits. 

 The food is fish. The female brings forth on land, and notwithstand- 

 ing the general marine habits of the animal it has been occasionally 

 seen very far from the shore. 



It is found in the North Pacific, from Kamtchatka to the Yellow 

 Sea on the Asiatic side, and from Alaska to California on the American 

 coast. (Richardson.) 



The fur was eagerly sought after, and is still prized, but not so 

 highly as formerly. Coxe quotes Pallas for the fact that the old and 

 middle-aged sea-otter skins were sold at Kiachta by the Russians to 

 the Chinese at from 80 to 100 roubles a skin, or from 161. to 20/. each. 

 Sir John Richardson observes that the trade was for a considerable 

 period in the hands of the Russians, who, soon after the discovery of 

 the north-west coast of America by Behring and Tschirikow, sent mer- 

 cantile expeditions there. The passage above quoted from Captain 

 Cook's ' Third Voyage* drew the attention of the English, and both 

 private merchants and the India Company sent vessels to collect skins 

 on the American coast and transport them to Canton. Pennant's hint 

 at the profitable trade which might be carried on with China by a 

 colony, were it possible to penetrate to that part of America by means 

 of rivers and lakes, seems not to have been lost. Sir Alexander Mac- 

 kenzie having traversed the continent of America and reached the 

 Pacific, his partners in trade established fur ports in New Caledonia 

 and a direct commerce with China; but, as Sir John Richardson 

 remarks in conclusion, the influx of furs into that market soon reduced 

 their price. 



LUTRARIA. [PYLOMDEA.] 



LUTRICOLA. [PYLOEIDEA.] 



LU'ZULA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order Jun- 

 cacece. It has a 1-celled 3-valved capsule, without dissepiments, with 

 three seeds at the base of the cell. Several species of this genus have 

 been described. 



L. sylvatica, the Great Wood-Rush, has linear-lanceolate hairy 

 leaves, the panicle sub-cymose, doubly compound ; peduncles elon- 

 gated; segments of perianth bristle-pointed, as long as the ovate 

 mucronate capsule ; filaments very short ; seed minutely tubercled at 

 the end. It is the Juncus sylvaticus of Hudson. It has an under- 

 ground woody stem. 



L. Fasten has a 1-flowered erect peduncle, with both flower- and 

 fruit-style equalling the stamens ; capsules acute; seeds with a straight 

 blunt crest. 



L. Barren has a peduncle 1-2-flowered, the upper ones reflexed 

 after flowering ; style equalling the stamens ; filaments about half as 

 long as the anthers. The seeds are as large as those of L. Fosteri, and 

 with a long crest folded back upon the seed. 



L. pilosa has peduncles 1-3-flowered ; capsules blunt, scarcely as 

 long as the perianth ; seeds with a falcate crest. 



L. campestris has a panicle of 3 or 4 ovate, dense, sessile, or stalked 

 clusters ; filaments much shorter than the anthers ; seeds nearly 

 globular, with a basal appendage. The root of this species has a 

 popular reputation as a diuretic, and ia used in China and the ntvth 

 of Europe. 



L. multiflora is known by the filaments being about as long as the 

 anthers ; seeds nearly twice as broad, with a basal appendage. 



L. spicata has a panicle with an oblong lobed nodding spike. It is 

 found in mountainous districts. 



L. arcuata has a sub-umbellate panicle of few 3-5-flowered clus- 

 ters ci long drooping peduncles ; the stem is slender, 2 to 5 inches 

 long. It is found on the highest summits of the Cairngorum and 

 Sutherland Mountains. All the species here described are British. 



(Babingtou, Manual of British Botany.) 



LYCAON. [HY.ENA-DOG.] 



LYCESTA, Savigny's name for a genus of Crustacea which M. 

 Desmarest views as coming very near to the genus Miera of Leach. 



LYCHNIS (from Kvjfvos, a lamp), a genus of Plants belonging to 

 the natural order Caryophyllacece, and to the sub-order SUeneat. It has 

 a 5-toothed naked calyx ; 5 petals, clawed ; 10 stamens ; 5 styles ; the 

 capsules 1-celled, or half 5-celled, opening at the top with 5 or 10 

 teeth. The species are smooth, hairy, or woolly herbs, with terminal 

 corymbs of flowers, rarely solitary. 



L. Clialcedonica, the Scarlet Lychnis, is a smoothish clammy plant, 

 with corymbose flowers in bundles; the calyx cylindrical, clavate, 

 ribbed ; the calyx 2-lobed, the carpophore long ; the leaves lanceolate, 

 slightly cordate at the base, and clasping the stem. This plant, which 

 produces scarlet, rose-coloured, or white flowers, and is a great favourite 

 in our gardens, is a native of Siberia and Japan. Several varieties of 

 this plant have been named. 



L. grandiflora is a glabrous plant, the flowers solitary or ternate, 

 terminal and axillary ; the calyx terete, clavate, ribbed ; the petals 

 lacerated ; carpophore elongated ; the leaves ovate, almost sessile. It 

 has large beautiful scarlet flowers, and is a native of China and Japan. 



L. Flos Cuculi, Ragged Robin, has deeply 4-cleft petals, with a very 

 short carpophore. It has rose-coloured petals, and is an abundant 

 plant in the moist meadows and pastures of Great Britain, aa well as 

 the whole of Europe. 



