198 MR. O. THOMAS ON THE [A-P""- 2, 



where its range meets that of the larger Brazilian Otter \ Thence 

 northward it is exceedingly common along the coasts of Patagonia 

 and Chili, where the complex labyrinths of gulfs and channels are 

 highly favourable to its manner of life. It has been found in Peru, 

 and in Ecuador it has been recorded from San Lorenzo. In addition, 

 it has been stated to occur in Central America, in California, and 

 Kamtschatka. The Central-American locality has already been 

 disposed of. That of Kamtschatka rests on two skins, now in the 

 British Museum, received from the French dealer Verreaux in 1856, 

 and certainly belonging to L.felina; their evidence, however, would 

 no doubt have long ago been rejected, had it not been partially 

 confirmed by Dr. Gray's description of a "i. cali/oi-ztica," afterwards, 

 and rightly, attributed to this specirs. The type of L. culifornica 

 was obtained and presented to the Museum by Capt. P. P. King ; 

 hut not only has the locality never been confirmed, a most significant 

 fact in so well-known a country, but there is also no mention of 

 California in that officer's account of his surveying-voyage. His 

 other specimens all came from Patagonia, and I suspect that 

 " California " was copied by mistake for " Patagonia," a word not 

 unlike it in manuscript. My conclusion, therefore, is that in all 

 probability the type of "Z. californica " really came from Patagonia ; 

 that the locality of Verreaux's " Kamtschatkan " specimens is erro- 

 neous ; that Pallas's '■'Viverra aterrlma "~ is not this species, as lias 

 been suggested; and as a result of these conclusions, that L.felina 

 does not really range northwards beyond Ecuador. 

 The following is its synonymy : — 



LUTRA FELINA. 



Mustela felina, Mol. Sagg. Storia Nat. Chili, p. 342 (1 782). 



Mustela (Lutra) cfii/ensis, Kerr, Linn. An. K. i. p. 172 (1792). 



Lutrafelina, Shaw, Gen. Zool.i. pt. ii. p. 448 (1800) (and of Gray 

 and other authors referring to Peruvian, Chilian, and Magellan Otters, 

 but not of Coues, Alston, and others describing Central-American 

 specimens). 



Lutra cMletisis, Benn. P. Z. S. 1832, p. 1. 



Lutra californica, Gmy, Charlesw. Mag. N. H. i. p. 580 (1837). 



Lutra peruviensis, Gerv. Voy. Bonite, i. p. 15, Atl. pi. iii. figs. 

 4&5 (skull) (1841). 



Lutra brocliydacfyla, '\\ao,n. Schr. Sau». Supp. ii. p. 261 (1842). 



Nutria felina. Gray, P. Z. S. 1865, p^ 128; Cat. Cam. B. M. 

 p. 106 (1869). 



Turning now to the smaller Otters of Brazil, larger, indeed, than 

 L.felina, but markedly smaller than L. brasiliensis, we are confronted 

 with a problem that I am as yet unable to elucidate. The characters 

 of the nose-j ad and the proportions of the skull and teeth appear 



1 One of the Otter-.«ki-ns obtained by Dr. Coppinger in the Straits of Ma- 

 gellan during the voyage of the ' Alert.' and referred by me to L. felina (P. Z. S. 

 1881, p. 3), proves, on an examination of its skull, to be really of the same type 

 as " L. paraiicnsis." The other specimens mentioned are all really L.felina. 



- Zoogr. Ross.-Asiat. i. p. 81 (1811). 



