LUTRA VULGABIS. 121 



indicates the premolar teeth, of which the first in the upper 

 jaw, which is absent in the Pole-cat and Weasel, retains 

 its characteristic place on the inner side of the canine : the 

 sectorial premolar s, has its inner lobe much more developed 

 than in Putorius, and the tubercular molar is relatively 

 larger. Similar modifications of these teeth distinguish the 

 dentition of the lower jaw of the Otter, which agrees in the 

 number and kind of teeth with that of the Pole-cat. The 

 increased grinding surface relates to the inferior and coarser 

 nature of the animal diet of the Otter, the back teeth being 

 thus adapted for crushing the bones of the fishes before 

 they are swallowed. The fossil Otter of the Cambridge- 

 fens, if the specimens may be termed fossil, does not, like 

 the Otter of the caves at Lunel-vieil, surpass the existing 

 individuals in strength or size : the cranium was, in fact, 

 somewhat less than that of the old male Otter with which 

 I compared it.* 



A portion of the lower jaw of an Otter, from the Norwich 

 crag at Southwold, and the characteristically bent humerus 

 from the same formation near Aldborough, which Mr. Lyell 

 has proved to be partly of fluviatile origin, carry the date 

 of the Lutra vulgaris in England, as far back as the older 

 pliocene period. 



I have hitherto met with no fossil remains of the Otter 

 in the newer pliocene fresh-water deposits of England, and 

 the amphibious habits and cautious concealment of the Otter 

 prevent any surprise at the absence of its remains in those 

 ossiferous caves which have served as retreats to the larger 

 extinct Carnivora, and which have yielded so many valuable 

 evidences of the antediluvian inhabitants of Great Britain. 



* M. de Blainville cites this spelaean Otter as the Lutra anttqua ; but M. Marcel 

 de Serres expressly states, in respect to the most characteristic fossil bone, 

 " Notre maxillaire se distingue done uniquement par sa force et ses proportions de 

 celui de la Loutre commune." Mem. du Museum, torn, xviii. p. 337. 



