1889.] 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 

 " L. 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 L. vulgaris. This point is of some importance in rela- 

 tion to the same author's description of liis " Lutra enudris,'' as the 

 characters of the latter, which he compares to those of '■ I'espcce 

 prccedente," would be quite inexplicable were the latter the true 

 Canadian Otter (his Lutra lataxina). 



Of the Neotropical species I may first give the synonymy of the 

 great INIargined-tailed Otter of the rivers of Guiana and Brazil. Tliis 

 Otter is unquestionably, as suggested by Ilensel and Nehring, the 

 original Lutra brasiliensis of the early authors, a name that Dr. 

 Gray wrongly applied lo one of the smaller s|)ecies, while he called 

 the present animal " Pferonura sambac/iii." 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. ii. p. 316 (1/80) (also of 

 Kerr, F. Cuvier, Fischer, Burmeister, Ilensel, Nehring. and others, 

 but not of Gray). 



Lutra lupina and paraguaensis^ , Schinz, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 213 

 (1821). 



Pteronura so!?niffcM^Gray,Charlesw. Mag. N. II. i. p. 580(1837). 



Of the other Neotropical Otters, Gray has associated the S. ^t!\- 

 zilian " i. 7>/fl?e/!s/s " with the C\\\\\&\\ L.felina ; and Alston ' has 

 placed the Central-American Otter under the same specific name. 

 The typical skull of L. jjlatcnsis 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 the 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 m.illim. as compared to 95 or 100 

 in the eastern species, by its relatively shorter face, and by its lighter 

 and more delicate teeth. The internal l.ibe of its upper p.' is only 

 about one half the size of that of ' L. platensis ' and its allies. The 

 species also differs from other Otters in being almost exclusively 

 marine in its habits. 



The distribution of L.felina presents some points for consideration. 

 In the southern hemisphere it extends to the Straits of Magellan, 



1 Mustela {Lutra) canadensis, Kerr, Liun. An. K. i. p. 173 (1792). 



2 Diet. Sci. Kat. sxvii. p. 242 (1823). 



2 Not Mustela {Lutra) 'jjaragticnsis, Kerr, Linn. An. K. p. 172 (1792), wbich 

 is Chirooiectes rniniimis. 



■' Afterwards spelt " saiidhacJiU." 



5 Biol. Centr.-Am., Mamm. p. 87 (1880). 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1889, No. XIV. 14 



