12 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[January 1, 1896. 



and tlieir fur, chiefly in the form of trimming, is likewise 

 sufliciently familiar. Althongli otter-pelts may bo classed 

 among the more valuable furs, their price bears no com- 

 parison to that of sea-otter fur ; and it is noticeable that 

 the pelts of the southern species are of considerably less 

 value than those of the northern kinds or races. l'"or 

 instance, whereas skins of the small Indian otter {L. 

 cinci-.'d) sell for only a shilling each, while those of the big 

 Brazilian species ( /-. hrasiliensi.i) fetch only from one to 

 six shillings, the price of a pelt of the common European 

 otter (L. vuliiivls) ranges from five to thirty shillings. 

 Canadian otters (L. ciinaih'mi^), which are larger and finer, 

 attain still higher values, selling at from thirty to fifty 

 shillings a-piece ; while in 1889, fine Labrador skins fetched 



I'lie Orluttoii, or Wolrevene. (One-sixth natvu'al size.) 



as much as ninety-five shillings. Some idea of the 

 importance of otter-skins in commerce may be gathered 

 from the fact that, according to Mr. Poland, upwards of 

 ten thousand skins of the European species are sold 

 annually at the pelt fair in Leipsic ; while in Prussia alone 

 over four thousand individuals were killed during the winter 

 of 1885-86. As regards the American species, in the year 

 1891 over eight thousand skins were sold by the Hudson 

 Bay Company, and more than seven thousand by the 

 Alaska Commercial Company. With this incessant per- 

 secution, it is a marvel that otters continue to exist at all, 

 especially as they are comparatively slow breeders. Otter- 



fur is used both in the natural state and when " pulled "— 



that is to say, when the longer hairs have been removed. 

 When pulled and dyed, it is used largely for glove-tops, 

 and has much resemblance to seal-skm, although it wears 

 much better. In northern countries the darker varieties 

 are largely used for collars and cufTs of coats in the 

 natural undycd condition, but in ]':ngland lighter-coloured 

 skins are preferred for the same purpose. 



In America, otters are chielly captured by trapping. 

 " Searching for a ' slide,' or place where the animal 

 habitually crawls from the water up the bank, the 

 hunter," writes Dr. Elliott Coues, " sets the trap on the 

 spot, a few inches under water. No bait is hero required, 

 and devices are used in securing the trap by which the 



animal may be led into 

 deep water when caught, 

 or lifted upward, the 

 design in either case 

 being to prevent its 

 escape by gnawing off the 

 imprisoned limb. The 

 trap may also be placed 

 at the top of the slide, 

 two or three feet back 

 off the slope, in a place 

 hollowed to receive it, 

 and covered with snow. 

 Under such circum- 

 Htaiices, care is taken not 

 to handle the trap with 

 the bare hands. It is 

 scented with various 

 animal odours, and, to 

 further ensure success, a 

 ' way ' is made to it by 

 means of parallel logs." 



The otters constitute 

 by themselves a separate 

 sub-family of the ^lus- 

 tilidcB, and next to them 

 comes in the zoological 

 system a second sub- 

 family represented by 

 the skmiks, badgers, and 

 ratels. Of these, the 

 most important from our 

 present point of view are 

 the skunks, of which 

 there are several genera, 

 all confined to America, 

 where the range of the 

 various kinds extends 

 from the Hudson Bay 

 territory to Patagonia. 

 The species of most 

 importance, from a com- 

 mercial point of view, 

 is the common skunk {Mephitis mephitica) of North 

 America, which may be compared ui size to a small 

 cat, and ranges from Hudson Bay to the Central United 

 States. In common with its kindred, this skunk has 

 a large bushy tail, frequently carried bent over the back 

 in a somewhat squirrel-like fashion, and a beautiful jet- 

 black fur, varied with a larger or smaller amount of 

 white forming a pair of longitudinal stripes on the body 

 and head, and more or less of the taU. In some speci- 

 mens the white is reduced to a fork on the head and a 

 patch on the tail-tip, and it is not improbable that 

 absolutely black examples may occasionally be met with. 



