142 BRITISH MAMMALS 



the unfortunate beast because they or their friends have an 

 exaggerated fondness for fly-fishing. The otter has been an 

 inhabitant of Britain since the end of the Pliocene Epoch. It 

 has not yet been obtained in a fossil state from either Scotland 

 or Ireland, and it may, therefore, only have penetrated to those 

 countries since the close of the Glacial age. It could easily 

 have reached Ireland from Scotland by swimming the inter- 

 vening strait of sea-water. Outside the United Kingdom its 

 range is very considerable. It is found over the greater part of 

 Europe and Asia, even including India and Ceylon. In North 

 America a larger species, nearly allied to it in structure, is also 

 found ; while representatives of the genus Lutra (some of which, 

 in South America, for example, attain a considerable size) are 

 found all over the terrestrial surface of the globe, excepting the 

 Australasian, Arctic, and Antarctic regions. The otter seemingly 

 evolved from a very generalised type of Mustelid, closely resem- 

 bling the Civets, and the Otter sub-family can be traced back on 

 the Continent of Europe to the Lower Miocene. It is just 

 possible that the otter originated in Europe, though the group 

 very early attained considerable development in Central and 

 Southern Asia, spreading thence into America. 



SUB-FAMILY : MELIN^E. THE BADGERS 



In this group the fore feet are long, and the creatures are 

 plantigrade in their walk. The toes are straight, and ordinarily 

 the hands are larger than the feet, and are armed with long, 

 slightly curved, blunt claws. The claws of the hind paws are 

 much shorter. They are rather large animals compared with their 

 weasel relations, and their habits are generally terrestrial and 

 burrowing, though several species, like the skunk, may be able to 

 climb trees. All this group (as is the case with so many other 

 Carnivores) possess scent glands round the anus. This feature 

 is developed in the American skunk to a degree met with in 

 no other beast ; for the foetid liquid secreted by this gland is 

 ejected from two conical papillae, or teats, which can be erected 

 and directed so as to spurt out jets of foul-smelling liquid to a 



