12 MAMMALIA. 



who says : <f A portion of the lower jaw of an Otter, from the 

 Norwich Crag of South wold, and the characteristically bent 

 humerus from the same formation near Aldborough .... 

 carry the date of the Lutra vulgaris in England as far buck 

 as the older Pliocene period." Prof. Prestwich (Quart. Journ. 

 Geol. Soc., Vol. XX VII., p. 456, 1871) also includes the genus 

 Lutra in his list of mammals from Thorpe pit, in Mr. Fitch's 

 collection. I have been unable to find either of the^e specimens 

 in any of the collections I have been able to examine. Mr. Fitch 

 has no knowledge of them, and a close search through his collec- 

 tion failed to reveal anything which could be referred to Lutra. 

 I am unable, therefore, to verify this specie? as belonging to the 

 Norwich Crag Fauna. 



A lower jaw (Plate I.. Fig. 10), undoubtedly belonging to L. 

 vulgaris (Geol. Mag., Dec. 3, Vol. IV., p. 145, 1887), has been 

 found by Mr. A. Savin, of Cromer, in the Forest-bed at East 

 Runton ; and the Pliocene age of the species is thus assured. 



The common Otter (L. vulgaris) has not been recognised in 

 Pliocene strata on the continent, unless indeed the L. affinis 

 should prove to be identical with it ; the genus, however, has 

 been met with at several localities. L. vulgaris has been found in 

 Britain, possibly in the Norwich Crag, certainly in the Forest-bed, 

 in Pleistocene and in Peat-deposits ; and it is now living in this 

 country, throughout Europe, and in Asia. 



LUTRA DUBIA, BLAINVILLE. 

 PLATE I., FIG. 15, , b, c. 



The above species was established by M. De Blainville (Osteo- 

 graphie, Genus Mustela, p. 76, Plate xiv., 1848 1) for the lower jaw 

 of an Otter from the Miocene of Sansan. Mr. E. C. Moor, of Great 

 Bealings, Suffolk, possesses a lower jaw from the Red Craa Nodule- 

 bed of Foxhall, 4 m/S.W. of Woodbridge, which has been referred 

 to the same species (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., Vol. XL VI, jp. 444 

 1890). This specimen differs from the lower jaw of the recent 

 Lutra vulgaris in having the earn assial tooth proportionally longer 

 and narrower ; also the hinder fangs of all the premolars are 

 much larger than the front ones, this being especially the case 

 with the tooth immediately in front of the carnassial. These 

 characters are precisely those found in the Lutra dubia, to which 

 species, therefore, the Crag fossil is referred, although the Sansan 

 specimen has the carnassial tooth a little wider and not quite so 

 much curved. 



The type specimen of L. dubia was obtained from the Miocene 



cf Sansan; the species is now recognised in the Nodule-bed of the 



The specimen in the British Museum (No. 27,486) 



