1889. j DIFFERENT SPECIES OF OTTER. 197 
noted, however, that Kerr’, and not Turton, is the earliest authority 
for the scientific name Lutra canadensis; also that F. Cuvier’s 
«IL. canadensis’’* appears not to be this species at all, having been 
founded on a skull which, although marked “ Loutre du Canada,” 
proves, on a personal examination in the Paris Museum, to be really 
referable to Z. vulgaris. This point is of some importance in rela- 
tion to the same author’s description of his ‘ Lutra enudris,” as the 
characters of the latter, which he compares to those of “ lespéce 
précédente,” would be quite inexplicable were the latter the true 
Canadian Otter (his Lutra latavina). 
Of the Neotropical species I may first give the synonymy of the 
great Margined-tailed Otter of the rivers of Guiana and Brazil. This 
Otter is unquestionably, as suggested by Hensel and Nehring, the 
original Lutra brasiliensis of the early authors, a name that Dr. 
Gray wrongly applied to one of the smaller species, while he called 
the present animal “ Péeronura sambachii.” The claims of this Otter 
to generic rank have already been discussed; its specific synonymy 
is as follows :— 
LUTRA BRASILIENSIS. 
Lutra brasiliensis, Zimm. Geogr. Gesch. i. p. 316 (1780) (also of 
Kerr, F. Cuvier, Fischer, Burmeister, Hensel, Nehring, and others, 
but not of Gray). 
Lutra lupina and paraguaensis*, Schinz, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 213 
(1821). 
Pteronura sambachii*, Gray, Charlesw. Mag. N. H.i. p. 580(1837). 
Of the other Neotropical Otters, Gray has associated the 8. Bra- 
zilian ‘“ Z. platensis”’ with the Chilian Z. felina; and Alston” has 
placed the Central-American Otter under the same specific name. 
The typical skull of ZL. platensis and also the specimen collected by 
Mr. Salvin at Santana Mixtan in Guatemala and referred to by Mr. 
Alston, are both, however, of the type found in Brazil and Guiana, 
to be referred to further on, and are markedly distinct from tlie true 
L. felina. The latter species is readily distinguishable from all other 
American Otters by its very much smaller size, the basal length of 
its skull being only about 80 to 85 millim. as compared to 95 or 100 
in the eastern species, by its relatively shorter face, and by its lighter 
and more delicate teeth. The iuternal lube of its upper p.* is only 
about one half the size of that of ‘ Z. platensis’ and its allies. The 
species also differs from other Otters in being almost exclusively 
marine in its habits. 
The distribution of Z. felina presents some points for consideration. 
In the southern hemisphere it extends to the Straits of Magellan, 
1 Mustela (Lutra) canadensis, Kerr, Linn, An. K. i. p. 173 (1792). 
2 Dict. Sci. Nat. xxvii. p. 242 (1823). 
3 Not Mustela (Lutra) paraguensis, Kerr, Linn, An, K. p. 172 (1792), which 
is Chironectes minimus. 
* Afterwards spelt “ sandbachii.” 
5 Biol. Centr.-Am., Mamm. p. 87 (1880). 
Proc. Zoo. Soc.—1889, No. XIV. 14 
