148 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS: ZOOLOGY. 



and the length of the tail as 3.50 inches (89 mm.). Gervais describes the 

 size of the animal as between that of an Ermine and a Mink. 



Represented by a single imperfect flat skin, without skull or flesh 

 measurements, obtained by Mr. Hatcher on the Rio Santa Cruz in the 

 spring of 1899. 



The species was first characterized by Gervais, in 1849, from a single 

 skull obtained by D'Orbigny on the Rio Negro, which heretofore seems 

 to have formed the most southern known limit of its range. Later its 

 external characters were made known by Burmeister, from two specimens, 

 one of which came from Azul, Argentina, near the northern boundary of 

 Patagonia, and the other from the Rio Negro. It is said to have the 

 savage ferocity characteristic of all the weasel tribe, and, according to Bur- 

 meister, is sometimes kept in the houses of the ranchmen to destroy rats. 



Genus LUTRA Brisson. 

 Lutra Brisson, Reg. Anim., ed. 2, 1762, 13, 201. — Erxleben, Syst. Reg. 

 Anim., 1777, 445. — Merriam, Science, N. S., I, No. 14, 376, April 

 5, 1895; type fixed as Mustela Intra Linn. 

 Two species of Otter are said to be found along the southern coast of 

 Patagonia and in the Straits of Magellan region, namely, Lutra fetina 

 (Molina) and L. paranctisis Rengger. No specimens, however, were se- 

 cured by the Princeton University Patagonian Expeditions, and no Pata- 

 gonian specimens are at present available for examination. Both species 

 are fairly well known, having been repeatedly described, and their skulls 

 at least figured. 



Lutra felina (Molina). 



Miisteta feliiia Molina, Sagg. Stor. Nat. Chile, 1782, 342; Comp. Hist. 



Geogr. Nat. y Civil de Chile, 1788, 320. 

 Lutra fcliua Shaw, Gen. Z06I., I, pt. 11, 1800, 448. — Thomas, P. Z. S., 



1881, 3 (Straits of Magellan, in part only); ibid., 1889, 198 (critical). 

 Nutria felina Gray, P. Z. S., 1865, 128; Cat. Carniv. Br. Mus., 1869, 106. 

 Mustela [Lutra) chilensis Kerr, An. King., 1792, 172 [= Lutra felina 



Mol.). 

 Lutra chilensis Bennett, P. Z. S., 1832, i. — Waterhouse, Zool. Voy. 



Beagle, Mamm., 1839, 23, Chonos Archipelago. — Wagner, Suppl. 



Schreber's Saug., H, 1842, 260. — Cunningham, Nat. Hist. Strait 



Magellan, 1871, 344, 350, 482. — Milne-Edwards, Miss, scient. du 



