136 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



Characters. Size large; claws well developed on all the toes; 

 upper edge of naked portion of muzzle projecting backwards 

 in the middle, and concave on either side, where it runs up to 

 the hinder edge of the nostril ; tail more than half the length 

 of the body General colour deep brown, with a more or less 

 rufous tinge ; woolly under-fur white at the base, then brown, 

 and usually paler at the tips, especially in Indian examples ; 

 under-parts whitish; fur of chin and throat white throughout, 

 elsewhere white at the base and tip, and brown in the middle. 

 Length of head and body, from 25 to 29 inches ; of tail, from 

 15 to 16 inches. 



Distribution. This species has a wide distribution in the Old 

 World, ranging over the whole of Europe and Asia north of the 

 Himalaya, while it is represented in India and some of the 

 countries on the east of the Bay of Bengal by a form which 

 is now generally regarded as a mere variety. In the British 

 Islands its fossilised remains are found in the Norwich Crag, 

 belonging to the upper part of the Pliocene period, in the 

 overlying forest-bed of the east coast, the brick-earths of the 

 Thames valley, as well as in several of the English caves. At 

 the present day it is still pretty generally distributed over the 

 country, although becoming scarce in the more cultivated 

 districts where the rivers are small. While, for instance, it is 

 stated to be rare in Leicestershire and Rutland, as also in 

 Hertfordshire, in the wild and rocky districts of Somerset, 

 Devon, and Monmouthshire it is still abundant, as it is in the 

 streams and lakes of Westmoreland and Cumberland. It 

 would be difficult indeed, as observed by the Rev. H. A. 

 Macpherson, to find any part of Britain more exactly suited to 

 the needs and habits of this animal than is the Lake district of 

 the two counties last mentioned. In the north of Scotland, 

 according to Messrs. Harvie-Brown and Buckley, the Otter, 

 although scarce, from incessant persecution^ in the east of 



