MAMMALS. 



251 



a powerful youug mau be tried to swiug the otter over his head aud kill it by dashing it against 

 the ground, but when in midair it turned suddenly and caught him by the throat, with the result as 

 described. 



The districts where the "blackfish" are abundant on the Lower Yukon and Kuskoquim form 

 the center of abundance of the otter in Alaska. There they frequent brackish pools and tide 

 creeks, like the mink. Petroff states that between 1870 aud 1880 there were 18,964 of land-otter 

 skins shipped from Alaska, but this falls far short of the real number. 



Enhydris lutris (Linn.). Sea Otter (Esk. A-mi'-lnilc). 



List of specimens. 



Easi-cranial lencth 



Zycjomatic width 



\Vi(ltb of interorbital constrictlou 



Length of "palate" 



Anterior maruin of canine to po.sterior margin last molar 



Height antiTiornares 



Width anterior nares 



Biographical notes. — In 1700-'C.j, when Bering and his party first explored the Aleutian Islands, 

 they found the Sea Otters so numerous that the Aleuts wore long mantles made of their skins, and 

 a scrap of old iron was enough to secure the finest skin. In 1840 Veniaminov wrote that the Sea 

 Otters in these islands "are distinguished above everything on account of their great value and 

 small numbers. * * * There was a time when they were killed in thousands, now only by 

 hundreds. There are plenty of places where before there were great numbers of Sea Otters ; now 

 not one is to be seen or found. The reason for this is most evident; every year hunted without 

 rest they have fled to places unknown and without danger." 



When the Fur Seal Islands were discovered these animals were very numerous, and two sailors 

 killed five thousand there the first year. The next year less than one thousand were killed, and from 

 the end of the next six years to the ])reseut day the Sea Otter has been unknown there. From the 

 Aleutian Lslands soutli to Oregon the Eussiaiis found these otters so numerous that tiiey were ob- 

 tained in numbers running from two to three thousand skins per year in many places, and in 1804 

 Baranov sailed from Alaska with a single cargo of fifteen thousand skins. At that time the dis- 

 trict about Unalaska Island furnished about one thousand skius annually. In 1826 only fifteen 

 .skins were taken there ; in 1835 about one hundred were taken, aud at the time of the transfer of 

 the Territory in 1867 the entire Aleutian cliain, with the adjacent coast south, only yielded to the 

 Eussians from six to eight hundred skins annually. In 1873 the Americans secured nearly four 

 thousand skins from this same region, aud in 1880 and 1881 from six to eight thousand skins are 

 estimated to have been secured on the same ground. This great increase in the catch during the 

 later years is entirely due to the greater vigor with which the animal has been hunted, aud the 

 introduction of fine long-range rifles. Good rifles now replace, to a great extent, the primitive 

 spears. 



There is little doubt that in the course of a few years, under the present regulations aud mode 

 of hunting, this valuable animal will be exterminatetl, and in place of aftbrding the Aleuts a live- 

 lihood will leave them dependent upon the Government. 



