40 * NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



subquadrate, nearly as large as the preceding, and its greatest axis directed obliquely back- 

 wards, with four or rather six distinct elevated points ; but the outer raised margin^ which is 

 so conspicuous in the European Otter, appears to be indistinct, or simply elevated into two 

 pointed tubercles, or wanting entirely, in the American. With age the anterior jaw teeth be- 

 come effaced. In a very aged specimen which we have placed in the State Collection, the 

 two anterior jaw teeth on each side (false molars) have disappeared, and even the canines are 

 worn down to the sockets. Length of this skull, 4'1 ; height at meatus, 1*7; transverse 

 diameter at meatus, 2*2; distance across the zygomatic arches, 2 ' 9 ; narrowest diameter, • 8. 

 Color. This varies with the season to a slight extent, but is usually of a dark glossy brown, 

 and white or light-colored about the face and throat. In summer, nearly black, lighter be- 

 neath. Tail darkest towards the tip. 



Head and body, 39-0-48-0. 



Tail, 14-0-18-0. 



The females are. smaller than the males. 



The American Otter, once so numerous in every part of the State, is now exceedingly 

 scarce. In the counties of Kings, Queens, Suffolk and Richmond, it is now extirpated. In 

 the northern districts, it is yet sufficiently numerous to become an object of pursuit. The 

 hunting season for the otter commences there about the twentieth of September, and continues 

 until the middle of May, and its fur ranks in value next to that of the beaver : a good skin is 

 worth eight dollars. They are used by hatters for the finer sort of hats, and are also converted 

 into costly caps. 



The Otter is a sagacious, wary animal, selecting low swampy grounds near a pond or 

 running stream for its abode. He makes an excavation in the bank, which opens under water, 

 and a small breathing hole to the surface of the ground. Like the Beaver, he is too sagacious 

 to be caught by any bait in a trap ; and accordingly, the steel trap is placed in the water be- 

 neath the exit from their burrow, or at the bottom of one of their slides. These otter slides, 

 as they are termed, form one of the most interesting peculiarities in the history of the animal, 

 and almost approach the fabulous. In winter, they select a high bank of snow, and amuse 

 themselves for hours in sliding down, head foremost. In summer, they choose a steep bank 

 by the side of a stream, which terminates in deep water, and indulge there in the same recrea- 

 tion. I have never seen the animal thus employed, but it is universally believed among hunt- 

 ers ; and I saw, in the uninhabited northern districts of the State, many of the places which 

 had been used as slides, and which pointed out to the keen eye of the hunter a sure sign of 

 numerous otters in the vicinity. 



The Otter is capable of being domesticated, and lives principally on fish and other aquatic 

 animals. They live in small families, like the Beaver. They have two young at a litter, 

 about the middle or latter end of March, but the period of gestation is unknown. The secre- 

 tion from their anal glands is used as a bait. 



