ANIMALS OP NORTH AMERICA. 33 



bank is clayey, and having rendered it smooth by removing 

 sticks, stones, &c., they start from the top, one after another, 

 with a velocity that brings them plump into the water. 

 Major Long thus jocosely alludes to them : " These slides 

 are sometimes borrowed by boys bathing ; who, however, not 

 recollecting that the otter is protected by a thick fur against 

 friction, find that notwithstanding the apparent smoothness, 

 the fine sand in the clay has robbed them of a broad surface 

 of cuticle, and that an otter slide is not altogether suited for 

 human recreation." The otter can be domesticated like the 

 beaver, and becomes very docile. 



There is another species, (Lutra destructor^) so called 

 from its destroying the beaver dams and houses, probably in 

 search of the young beaver. It is met with in the Hudson 

 Bay territory, but together with the third species, Calif ornica, 

 of the Pacific coast, little is accurately known of them. The 

 Ojibbeways, however, knew long ago of their existence, from 

 the two different names used for the two species in their lan- 

 guage. The sea-otter is exclusively resident within the 49th 

 and 60th degrees north latitude. 



