] 88 MUSTELID^E. 



rounded. Claws extremely small and rudimentary, and sometimes 

 wanting altogether ; the third and fourth toes on all feet consider- 

 ably longer than the other toes. 



Skull much shorter than in other Indian forms, the length heing 

 but little more than one and a half times the breadth of the brain- 

 case, which is very broad. The inner lobe of the upper sectorial 

 large. The upper (last) molar much larger in proportion to the 

 breadth than in other species. 



Colour. Moderately deep brown, with a more or less rufous 

 tinge above, paler below ; sometimes the difference is very slight, 

 except on the cheeks and upper lip, with the sides of the neck, 

 chin, and throat, which are whitish or white ; this colour is sharply 

 divided from the brown on the sides of the head and neck, but 

 passes gradually into the paler brown of the breast. The under- 

 fur of the back is lighter in colour near the base. 



Dimensions. Head and body 22 to 24 inches, tail 10| to 13, 

 hind foot 3 ; weight 11 to 13 Ibs. A skull measures 3 inches in 

 basal length and 2-25 wide across the zygomatic arches ; another 

 3-1 by 2-4. 



Distribution. The claw! ess otter is found throughout the greater 

 part of the Oriental region. It inhabits the Himalaya generallv 

 at low elevations, is found in Lower Bengal, being common near 

 Calcutta, in Assam, Burma, Southern China, the Malay Peninsula, 

 and several of the islands, including Java. Beyond Lower Bengal 

 this species has not been recorded from the peninsula of India, 

 except at considerable elevations on the Nilgiri and some other 

 ranges in the Madras Presidency ; but a small otter said by Kelaart 

 to inhabit the neighbourhood of Newera Ellia, in Ceylon, is very 

 possibly L. leptonyx. 



Habits. Similar, GO far as is known, to those of other otters. 

 This animal is said by Cantor to be kept tame and employed by 

 fishermen in Malacca, together with other species. 



By many writers the small clawless otter, Lutra leptonyx, is 

 separated from other Indian otters and classed in a distinct genus, 

 Aonyx, the type of which is the Cape otter, L. inunguis. This is 

 distinguished by having the merest rudiments of claws and the 

 toes half-webbed. L. leptonyx also has very small claws, though 

 not quite so rudimentary as those of L. inunguis, but the toes are 

 as fully webbed as those of most otters. Although it does not 

 differ from Lutra in the same manner as the type of Aonyx does, 

 L. leptonyx has several peculiarities of its own not shown by its 

 supposed ally. Its skull is peculiarly short and broad, with a 

 differently shaped upper posterior molar, and its feet differ from 

 those of other species, including L. inunguis, in the much greater 

 proportional length of the third and fourth toes. 



The most remarkable peculiarity of L. leptonyx, the form of the 

 skull, is repeated in a South- American species of otter, L. felina. 



