116 THE COMMON OTTER. 



Dr. Richardson says, that when care is taken not to soil the 

 carcase with any of the fluid, the meat is considered by the 

 natives to be excellent food. 



THE COMMON OTTER. 

 (Lutra vulgaris, Erxleben. Mustela lutra, Linn.) 



This species inhabits England, Scotland, Wales, and probably 

 many other European countries, but the extent of its geogra- 

 phical distribution does not appear to have been correctly ascer- 

 tained.* In England, excepting the northern countries, the 

 animal is now so scarce that the discovery of one is generally 

 thought worthy of being recorded in the newspapers. 



Pennant gives its usual full length, from the nose to the end of 

 the tail, as three feet three inches ; Captain Brown as three feet 

 four inches; Professor Bell as three feet five inches and six lines; 

 while a specimen, recordedf to have been recently shot by a Mr. 

 Wyatt, of Iffley Pound, near Abingdon, is stated to have been 

 four feet eleven inches in length. Notwithstanding the various 



* The Zoological Society's Museum contains a beautiful stuffed specimen 

 of the otter of Ireland, which Mr. Ogilby contends is distinct from the above 

 species ; but Professor Bell does not think it possesses characters sufficiently 

 apparent to induce the belief that it is more than a very dark and handsome 

 variety of it. 



f Wiltshire Independent, March 5, 1840. 



