330 Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol. XL 



Subfamily LUTRIN^E. Otters. 



Otters are semi-aquatic,* fish-eating mammals which are much 

 hunted on account of the fine quahty of their fur. There are at least 

 two genera and a number of species distributed throughout many parts 

 of the world, including several Neotropical forms. Of the eight rec- 

 ognized species and subspecies in North America, one species and 

 perhaps one subspecies are found within our limits. They are generally 

 taken in traps, although Otter hunting with dogs trained for the purpose 

 was formerly a common sport in England. 



Genus LUTRA Brisson. 



Lutra Brisson, Regn. Anim., 2nd ed., 1762, p. 201. Type Mustela 



Intra Linn. 



Body long; legs short; toes webbed; soles of feet hairy; tail long and 

 rounded, thick at base and tapering; head broad; skull flattened ; rostrum 

 short; audital bullae much flattened; upper carnassial with tricuspid 

 blade and a large inner lobe; upper molar large, first upper premolar 

 very small; general color brown. (For cut of skull see p. 276.) 



Dental formula: I. ^^, C. ^^, Pm. ^-^, M. ^^= ^6. 

 3-3 i-i 3-3 2-2 



Lutra canadensis (Schreber). 

 Otter. Canada Otter. 



Mustela lutra canadensis Schreber, Saugthiere, 1776, pi. CXXVI B. 



Lutra Canadensis Lapham, Trans. Wis. State Agr. Soc, II, 1852 (1853), p. 339 

 (Wisconsin). Kennicott, Trans. 111. State Agr. Soc., I, 1853-54 (1855), p. 578 

 (Cook Co., Illinois). Thomas, Trans. 111. State Agr. Soc, IV, 1859-60 (1861), 

 p. 655 (Illinois). 



Lutra canadensis Kennicott, Agr. Rept. for 1858, U. S. Patent Office Kept., 1859, 

 p. 246 (Illinois). Miles, Rept. Geol. Surv. Mich., I, i860 (1861), p. 220 (Mich- 

 igan). Allen, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., XIII, 1869 (1871), p. 183 (Iowa). 

 Strong, Geol. Wis., Surv. 1873-79, 1» 1883, p. 437 (Wisconsin). Herrick, 

 Geol. & Nat. Hist. Surv. Minn., Bull. No. 7, 1892, p. 129 (Minnesota). Snyder, 

 Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc, II, 1902, p. 122 (Wisconsin). Hahn, Proc. U. S. 

 Nat. Mus., XXXII, 1907, p. 463 (N. W. Indiana). Jackson, Bull. Wis. Nat. 

 Hist. Soc, VI, 1908, p. 27 (Wisconsin). Ih., VIII, 1910, p. 89 (Wisconsin). 

 Wood, Bull. 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist., VIII, 1910, p. 581 (Illinois). 



Lutra hudsonica Evermann & Butler, Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci., 1893 (1894), p. 138 

 (Indiana). 



* The Sea Otter (L. lutris) passes so much of its life in the water that it can 

 fairly be called aquatic 



