THE SEA-OTTER AND ITS EXTERMINATION 



A few summers ago a gentleman with whom I am 

 acquainted spent his holiday in shooting and fishing on 

 the west coast of Ireland, and in the course of his trip 

 procured several fine otter-skins, taken in some of the 

 bays of that picturesque district. As these otters lived in 

 the sea, my friend, who does not profess to be a naturalist, 

 jumped to the conclusion that they were sea-otters ; and 

 as he had heard of the value attaching to the pelts of the 

 latter animal, was not a little elated at having obtained 

 such spolia opinio, at such small cost. And it came some- 

 what as a shock to him when he heard that otters living 

 in the sea were not necessarily sea-otters in the zoological 

 sense of the term, and that to procure specimens of the 

 latter he would have to journey to the shores of the islands 

 and continents of the North Pacific. 



Now although it is improbable that many of my readers 

 would be likely to confound an ordinary otter which has 

 taken up its residence on the coast with its truly marine 

 cousin, yet before entering upon the consideration of the 

 habits and impending extermination of the latter, a few 

 words relating to some of the leading points of distinction 

 between the two animals will scarcely be wasted. 



Ordinary otters, then (of which there are numerous 



species, ranging over nearly all the habitable parts of the 



globe where water is plentiful), are animals nearly allied 



217 



