L U T R A. 



and also die English, send annually to these markets 

 a great number of skins. The pile upon them is 

 almost entirely of the woolly character, remarkably 

 close and soft ; its colour is very beautiful, and its 

 lustre quite metallic and very durable. Such numbers 

 of these valuable animals are found in the seas around 

 Kamtschatka, that it is often called the Kamtschatka 

 otter; but it is not confined to the shores of that 

 country, or even to the shores of Asia ; for it occurs 

 equally on the west coast of the northern parts of 

 America; but it has not been met with on either 

 shore of the Atlantic, or any shore but in the North 

 Pacific. As an inhabitant of the sea it makes a 

 greater approach toward the seal in its structure than 

 the common otter does. The principal indication of 

 which is, that the hind legs are much shorter and 

 brought nearer to each other, and the tail is also 

 shorter ; its toes are also shorter, and the claws 

 shorter by the webs extending nearly to their points; 

 and the hind feet resemble in no small degree in their 

 terminal parts the feet of some of the diving ducks. 

 The fore feet also are but ill adapted for walking ; 

 and the whole characters of the animal are much 

 more aquatic than those of the common otter, or 

 indeed of any other known species. It is often at 

 least seventy pounds in weight ; but we believe its 

 flesh is of little or no value as an article of food. 

 There are sometimes very considerable differences in 

 .the colour, the skin being slightly waved with lighter 

 shades, and the head and fore paws almost white. 

 Dming the winter months it confines itself to the 

 shores of the sea, or to the inarains of the ice, in those 

 places where the water along shore is frozen ; but 

 during summer it ascends the rivers, and enters the 

 fresh water lakes. It is a monogamous animal ; 

 and the male and female are usually found in com- 

 pany. The period of gestation is not very accurately 

 known, but it. is supposed to be not shorter than eight 

 .months; and there is not more than a single young 

 one at a birth. Its food consists chiefly of fishes and 

 Crustacea, the coverings of the latter being readily 

 broken by its powerful teeth. It is also said to eat 

 the more succulent kinds of sea-weed, which U pos- 

 sible, inasmuch as the greater part, if not the whole, 

 of the genus can eat vegetable matter. This one 

 differs so much from the others in its habits, that it 

 ought perhaps to be considered as a separate section 

 of the genus, rather than as a mere species. 



THE AMERICAN OTTER (L. Americanus) is very 

 often styled the Brazilian otter, though that gives a 

 false impression of it, because it is found in the rivers 

 of North America as well as in those of South. 

 It is doubtful, however, whether it extends as far to 

 the north as otters are known to extend ; for there is 

 another species, or at ajl events a variety, in Canada, 

 longer in the body, though not of larger diameter, than 

 the species under notice ; and there is also some 

 difference in the formation of the tail, which indicates 

 a more aquatic habit than that of the species under 

 notice. 



The American otter is rather larger than the Eu- 

 ropean. Its covering is generally of a brownish (awn, 

 colour a little bright on the upper part of the head, ami 

 darker towards the extremity of the leirs and tail. 

 The muzzle and the throat are of a whitish yellow. 

 The colours are, however, subject to a good deal of 

 variation, from dark yellowish brown to yellow on 

 the upper part, and from yellow to nearly pure white 

 on the throat. One distinction between it and the 



European otter, is its having no distinct naked muzzle, 

 but merely a margin of naked skin round the nostrils. 



Its habits are described as being more social than 

 most of the otters ; for small troops are found inha- 

 biting the same places of the rivers, and it is men- 

 tioned that several females take up their abode and 

 produce their young in the same nest. The place of 

 the nest is a natural hole in the bank, or a burrow 

 excavated by the animals themselves. It appears to 

 have a very considerable resemblance to the European 

 otter in its disposition. In, South America it has 

 been domesticated, in which state it eats indiscrimi- 

 nately fish, the flesh of land animals, and farinaceous 

 vegetables ; but when it had a freedom of choice it 

 always preferred fish to either of the others. It 

 showed s6me attachment both to the house in which 

 it was kept and to the inmates, for it would go out into 

 the streets and come back again of its own accord ; 

 and if it met with any of the people of the house 

 which were familiar to it, it would follow them much 

 in the same manner as a dog. This following was, 

 however, a very laborious mutter, for its legs are so 

 short that its belly nearly touches the ground, and 

 thus it is obliged to leap instead of walking, and very 

 soon gets fatigued. It showed a disposition to play 

 with the other domestic animals, whose sport with 

 each other consists, in great part, of good naturedly 

 pretending to bite. This, however, was a sort of ope- 

 ration which the otter did not seem to understand, for 

 when the dogs pretended to bite it.it always bit them 

 severely in return. It showed no disposition, how- 

 ever, to attack and kill any warm-blooded animal, 

 excepting on one or two occasions ; and this was 

 perhaps more by accident than from any dispo- 

 sition to make a meal of them. The account of this 

 domesticated one is given by D'Azzara, and therefore 

 it is probable that it may have related to 



THE CHILI OTTER (L. Chilcnsis), which has been 

 named and described as a species, though in reality it 

 appears to be only a slight variety of the other. It is 

 described as inhabiting the waters of Chili ; being of 

 a venous brown on the upper part, and yellowish or 

 whitish on the under; measuring two feet four inches 

 from the nose to the tail, with the tail one foot seven 

 inches, arid the circumference of the body nine inches 

 and a half. We shall quote the more particular de- 

 scription of it from that given by Mr. Bennett before 

 the Scientific Committee of the Zoological Society in 

 January, 1832 : " The fur," says Mr. B., " is com- 

 posed of hairs of two kinds ; the inner woolly and 

 thickly furnished ; the outer silky, also thickly set, 

 and completely concealing the inner. The colour of the 

 fur of the upper surface is glossy brown on the head 

 (where the hairs are comparatively short), and in- 

 creasing in depth as it proceeds backwards, becomes 

 blackish on the rump, and still more decidedly so on 

 the tail. The lower surface of this member, for the 

 extreme three-fourths of its length, is of the same 

 colour with the upper; near the vent it becomes 

 pacr and assumes a reddish hue ; and this colour is 

 continued, with a slight cadescent lint, along the 

 whole of the under surface, scarcely becoming lighter 

 on the throat and lower jaw; the margin of the upper 

 lip, the cheeks, and a patch under each ear, are of the 

 same colour witli the upper surface ; of the niusta- 

 chios, which ate short, some of the hairs are yellowish, 

 while greater part are bluish black ; the legs are of 

 the colour of the upper surface of the body, which 

 becomes deeper on the feet ; the whole of the silky 



