194 MR. O. THOMAS ON THE [A-pf- 2, 



is possible to make out anything from them, are far more like those 

 of i. vulgaris than L. sumatrana. Independently, therefore, of the 

 skull, I should place " L. aurobrunnea" as a synonym of i. vulgaris. 



The skull {" L. nepalensis") presents an interesting example of 

 the difficulty of making out the species of Otter from cranial cha- 

 racters alone, for while both Gray and Blanford have looked upon it 

 as showing close affinities to the hairy-nosed L. sumatrana, I am 

 convinced, on the other hand, that it is only the skull of a female 

 Lutra vulgaris, more or less degenerated by living in captivity. 



Thus it shows unequivocal traces of confinement in the peculiarly 

 roughened and more or less diseased character of the bone, especially 

 round the bases of the canines. Now the only differences that I can 

 find between this skull and that of an undoubted L. vulgaris ( 5 ) 

 lie in its rather smaller size and a general weakness in dentition, both 

 easily explainable on the theory of the animal having been brought 

 up in captivity. 



Should this view be correct, the species (No. 94 of Mr. Blanford's 

 work) must be altogether expunged from the list of the Mammals of 

 British India, as both L. aurobrunnea and L. nepalensis will come 

 under L. vulgaris (No. 92). Nor can its place be taken by the 

 true hairy-nosed Otter, L. sumatrana, which, so far as is yet known, 

 does not occur north of Malacca. 



The individual identity of the skull of "i. nepalensis" and the 

 skin oi " L. aurobrunnea" is rendered at the same time both more 

 probable and less important by the independent reference of each to 

 L. vulgaris. It may also just be noted that the skin is clearly that 

 of a female. 



(3) Lutra macrodus, Gray, P. Z. S. 1865, p. 128; Cat. Cam. 

 B. M. p. 105 (1869). 



This Otter, described by Dr. Gray from two fine skins said to 

 have come from Brazil, has long been a puzzle to workers on American 

 Mustelidse. The skull proves that it is entirely distinct from any 

 previously known Brazilian Otter, and I should unhesitatingly re- 

 cognize it as a valid species, were it not that no difference whatever 

 can be found, either external or cranial, between it and the Indian 

 Lutra barang (species B above). As to the locality of the types, 

 Dr. Gray expressly states that " M, Parzudaki assured me that he 

 had received the pair direct from Brazil, from a collector who shot 

 them ;" but in spite of this assurance I am inclined to believe that 

 some change of specimens or other mistake occurred, and that they 

 really came from the Indian Region. Other Brazilian specimens 

 since received and referred by Dr. Gray to L. macrodus prove, on an 

 examination of their skulls, to be really quite different from it, so 

 that the locality for the originals has never been confirmed. Con- 

 sidering, therefore, these facts, I look upon " L. macrodus" rs a 

 synonym of L. barang, at least until any such Otter is found in 

 South America — a contingency that would-be describers of new 

 species of Neotropical Otters should be prepared for. 



