LUTR A. 



more easily divided than the flesh of those warm- 

 blooded animals upon which the martens and their 

 congeners feed. The flattened tail possessed by the 

 otters is common to all the four-footed mammalia 

 which swim in the water, and pursue their prey there ; 

 and, unlike the tail of the cctacea, it is rather an or- 

 gan of ascent and descent, than a propelling one, the 

 forward motion being given chiefly by the stroke of 

 the feet. We can trace a gradation in this respect as 

 the animals are more and more aquatic ; for the seals, 

 which pass more of their time in the waters than the 

 otters do, have the hind feet in great part united to 

 the tail ; and the cetacea, which are still more aqua- 

 tie than the seals, have those extremities altogether 

 merged in the tail. The otter's tail is covered with 

 longer and coarser fur than the body ; but there are, 

 generally speaking, two kinds of fur, the one consisting 

 of shining hairs which are longer and thicker than the 

 rest, and generally of a brownish colour; and the 

 other woolly, shorter, much thicker and finer, and 

 generally greyish. The character of the fur appears, 

 however, to vary a good deal with the climate. The 

 otters of India, for instance, have the hair very rough ; 

 but in some cold countries, as for example in 

 Kamtschatkii, the covering of the otter is very soft 

 and fine, and the skin is highly esteemed by the fur- 

 riers. All the otters have the muzzle more or less de- 

 veloped ; and mustachios in the greater number of the 

 species, formed of a thick tuft of white or whitish 

 hairs. The soles of the fore feet are quite naked ; 

 but in the hind ones the heel is covered with fur. 

 The otter is not an amphibious animal, as is sometimes 

 stated ; for there are, in fact, no mammalia, and in- 

 deed no other animals, which are capable of breathing 

 both air and water in the same stage of their exist- 

 ence ; but the habits of the otter require that it 

 should be much longer under water than most 

 animals, and thus it requires to breathe less frequently. 

 Otters of all species reside in burrows opening as 

 near the water as possible, and very often concealed 

 under a projecting bank. When they take to the 

 water for the purpose of catching fish, they always 

 swim against the stream ; for the fishes, when repo- 

 sing or waiting for food, always have their heads up 

 the water ; and thus the otter can come upon them 

 unobserved, and make prize of them. It is often said 

 that large pike and otters contend as to which of 

 them shall eat the other ; but though the pike is 

 abundantly voracious, it is not so energetic, and does 

 not bite so sharply as an otter. Otters are indifferent, 

 in a great measure, both to cold and to moisture. 

 Their fur has the property of the feathers of diving 

 birds, in not becoming wetted ; and as the greater 

 part of their time is spent either in the water, cr in 

 cold and humid holes by the side of it, they do not 

 know a very great change of temperature. They are 

 thus found in countries which are comparatively cold ; 

 but it is understood that as the rivers freeze over, they 

 retreat upon the unfrozen portion of the water ; 

 though when the frost is more than usually rapid and 

 severe, they are sometimes frozen out ; and this is 

 the time when they are hunted with the greatest 

 success, and also when their skins are the most 

 valuable. 



As there is much less difference of climate to an 

 otter than to an animal which lives on the land, the 

 coverings of the otters of all countries have more re- 

 spinblance to each other than those of land animals. 

 They are are all grej'Uh brown, more or less dark on 



the upper part of the body, and they are generally 

 white or whitish under the throat. For the reasons 

 just mentioned, it is very difficult to find well marked 

 distinctions of species in otters ; and thus they who 

 are fond of an excessive multiplication of species are 

 obliged to call them after the countries in which they 

 are found. We shall notice very briefly those species 

 which are named. 



THE EUROPEAN OTTER (L. vti/^aris) is found in 

 most countries of Europe, and it is the only species 

 in this quarter of the world. Though short in the 

 legs, it is a very long animal ; the body of a full- 

 grown one measuring two feet, and the tail nearly 

 a foot and a half. Its general colour is blackish 

 brown, with a white spot under the chin and a smaller 

 one on each side of the nose. The nostrils are pro- 

 vided with an apparatus which prevents (he water 

 from entering when the animal is moving speedily 

 along. This apparatus consists of a series of mem- 

 branous valves, which are kept close by the pressure 

 of the water ; and that they may be so kept is another 

 reason why the otter swims against the current. But 

 though these appendages to the nostrils of the otter 

 are a good temporary defence, they are only a tem- 

 porary one ; for if the otter is kept under water for 

 any length of time, by being entangled in fishing 

 nets or any other means, it is drowned with the same 

 certainty as any other air-breathing animal, not by 

 water getting into the lungs through the nostrils, but 

 by strangulation from the want of the necessary 

 stimulus of the atmosphere. The ears and eyes of 

 the European otter are both very small, as a large 

 size in either would be inconvenient ; and we accord- 

 ingly find that those mammalia which are still more 

 aquatic in their habits than the otter, have the eyes 

 smaller in proportion, and scarcely any external ears. 

 But the eyes are the organs upon which such animals 

 have their chief dependence in finding their prey 

 under the surface. Ears are of but little use in letting 

 what goes on under the surface be known to an ani- 

 mal which is also there ; and nostrils, especially 

 when closed by valves like those of the otter, arc not 

 more efficient. The small eye too is less liable to 

 injury, or to be strained by the pressure of the water, 

 than a large one would be ; and the eyes of the otter 

 are remarkably clean, and so placed as to -be very 

 commanding. The feet of the animal also answer 

 well for their double purpose of swimming and bur- 

 rowing in the earth. The feet of all animals which 

 have the habit of diving under water, are short ; and 

 those of the otter, besides having this property, an- 

 swer as mattocks with their fore claws, and as shovels, 

 with spreading toes and strong ankles. 



Their dwelling is sometimes in a natural cavity 

 of the earth, but more frequently it is artificial, and 

 with an opening at or under the surface of the water, a 

 little below that part of the pool in which the fish usually 

 lie. Though this dwelling of the otter is always in moist 

 situations, the animal forms a regular nest of grass at 

 the bottom of it, more especially against the breeding 

 time. The period of gestation is about nine weeks, 

 and the litter consists of four or five. The time w hen 

 they make their appearance is generally about April, 

 and the mother leaves them to shift for themselves 

 in May. They are indeed not merely left to shift 

 for themselves, but they are driven from the nest and 

 its neighbourhood to find abodes and fishing grounds 

 for themselves, but they remain in pairs, and attain 

 maturity in the course of about two years. If taken 



