564 THE SEA-OTTER. 



then only that he assumes that immaculate robe which the proudest 

 monarchs are content to wear. In summer its colour is a clear maroon. 

 His tail alone remains at all times of a beautiful shining black. 



The Glutton (Gulo Arcticus) is a carnivorous quadruped of a very 

 voracious nature, about the size of a large badger, between which 

 and the polecat he appears to form a link. His legs are short and 

 robust ; he has a compact body, large head, and unwieldy gait. His 

 ears are small ; his tail is short and tufted. His skin is a black 

 brown on the top of the head and back ; a white line extends along 

 each flank, from the shoulder to the root of the tail. The muzzle is 

 black ; the remainder of the body a deep brown. Like most of the 

 mammals of the Polar region, he has two kinds of hair the upper 

 long and coarse, the lower soft, fine, and of an uniform brown colour. 

 The glutton owes his name to his extreme voracity. He does not 

 fear to attack animals of the size of the reindeer ; he leaps upon 

 them, fastens his claws in them, rends them to pieces, until at length 

 they fall exhausted. After having gorged himself on their flesh and 

 blood, he hides the remainder for another repast. 



The genus Otter (Lutra vulgai*is) comprehends several species, 

 distributed over nearly all the countries of the world. I shall here 

 speak only of the Otter of Kamtschatka, or Sea Otter (Enhydra 

 lutris), so named on account of his essentially aquatic habits. He 

 weighs from seventy to eighty pounds. In full season his colour is 

 perfectly black ; at other times, of a dark brown. He attains the 

 length of three feet, including his tail ; has hind-feet resembling those 

 of a seal ; the upper jaw is armed with six, and the lower with four 

 incisors. The grinders are broad, and well adapted for crunching 

 crustaceous animals. He runs with great rapidity, and swims with 

 astonishing ease and swiftness. Of late years, however, he has been 

 the object of so murderous a chase on the part of the Russian and 

 American hunters that he has almost disappeared from the Polar 

 shores. The skins of the sea otter are much prized by the Chinese, 



