94 



CARNIVORES. 



the year, although the winter is the more usual time. The number of young in a 

 litter generally varies from two to five, the cubs themselves being born blind. 



The otter is readily tamed if captured at a sufficiently early age, 

 and then becomes much attached to its owner, whom it will follow 

 about after the manner of a dog. The natural instincts of these animals are taken 

 advantage of by the native fishermen of some oriental countries to aid them in 

 their avocations. The late Bishop Heber, when voyaging up one of the rivers of 

 Bengal, states that his vessel passed " a row of no less than nine or ten large and 

 very beautiful otters tethered with straw collars and long strings to the bamboo 

 stakes on the banks. Some were swimming about at the full extent of their strings, 

 or lying half in and half out of the water ; others were rolling themselves in the 

 sun on the sandy bank, uttering a shrill whistling noise, as if in play. I was told 

 that most of the fishermen in the neighbourhood kept one or more of these animals, 

 who were almost as tame as dogs and of great use in fishing, sometimes driving the 

 shoals into the nets, sometimes bringing out the larger fish with their teeth." 

 According to later authorities it appears, however, that the bishop was misinformed 

 as to the otters being employed to catch fish with their teeth, their sole use in India 

 being to drive the latter into the nets. In China, on the other hand, otters are 

 actually employed in the former operation. 



Otter-hunting in England has been already alluded to briefly 

 under the head of the otter-hound ; and from the facts there mentioned 

 it will be gathered that these animals are still fairly numerous in many of the 

 wilder parts of the country. 



Otter fur, from its close texture, fine gloss, and rich colour, is 



much esteemed as a trimming, and commands a rather high price in 



the market. A large number of the otter skins imported into this country belong, 



however, to the North American species. Skins of the European species vary from 



five to thirty shillings in price. 



Fossil remains of the common otter have been obtained from the 

 ' superficial deposits and caverns of this country and the Continent, 

 and likewise from the so-called " forest-bed " of the Eastern Coast, which is some- 

 what older. A fossil otter from the still more ancient Norwich Crag, belonging to 

 the upper portion of the Pliocene period has, moreover, been identified with the 

 present species. 



North American This otter (L. canadensis) is distinguished from the preceding 

 otter. by the much larger size of the naked area at the tip of the muzzle, 

 which extends far above and to the sides of the nostrils, instead of being entirely 

 confined to the space between them, as in the latter. According to Dr. Coues, it is 

 very variable in point of size and colour. It may, however, attain a total length 

 of 4 feet or more, while the general colour of the fur is liver-brown with a purplish 

 gloss, the chin, throat, and under-parts being paler. This species occurs over the 

 whole of North America in suitable regions, although apparently nowhere very 

 numerous; its northern range extending along the Mackenzie and other rivers 

 nearly to the Arctic Ocean. 



There does not appear much that is especially noteworthy or 

 peculiar in the habits of this species. Dr. Hart Merriam states that in 



