126 PARTIAL WATER TRESPASSERS. 



is kept near the water, tethered by rope and collar 

 until wanted. This animal is the Chinese Otter, or 

 Indian Otter (Lutra Chinensis), which is spread over a 

 considerable portion of Asia. The reader may remem- 

 ber that the cormorant is used for a similar purpose ; 

 but as reference will be made to that bird in a future 

 page, it needs at present only a passing mention. 



The Otter would be even more valuable than the 

 cormorant for this purpose, and for the following 

 reason : The instinct of the cormorant teaches it, when 

 it has caught a fish, to swallow it on the spot ; but the 

 instinct of the Otter teaches it, under similar circum- 

 stances, to bring the fish ashore. It does not swallow 

 its prey whole, like the cormorant, but, as we have 

 already seen, tears it to pieces with its teeth, while 

 holding it down with its fore paws. 



As the present work does not pretend to give a 

 detailed description of all the water trespassers, but 

 only to give a slight sketch of them and the modifica- 

 tions of structure which will enable them to trespass 

 upon an alien element, I shall only mention one other 

 species of Otter namely, the Sea Otter (Enhydra 

 Lutris) . 



This is a most singular animal, and presents a 

 remarkable contrast to the structure of the Ofcters in 

 general. As has already been mentioned, in the gene- 

 rality of the Otters, the tail plays the most conspicuous 

 part. But in the Sea Otter it is quite short, and is, in 

 fact, scarcely larger, in proportion to the size of the 

 animal, than that of the stoat or common weasel. In 

 order, however, to compensate for the smallness of the 

 tail, the body is very much elongated, and the hind 



