CHARACTERS OP SOME SPECIES OF LUTRIN.'E. 541 



from that of L. Intra in similar respects, except that the plantar 

 pad is very poorly defined, its three lobes gradually fading away 

 into the scantily hairy area of the metatarsus at the proximal 

 end of the digits. The median lobe is tolerably broad in front 

 and tapering behind, the external lateral lobe is scarcely difteren- 

 tiated from the base of the fifth digit, the internal lateral is a 

 mere thickened ridge of skin covering the base of the second 

 digit, and there is no trace of the internal or hallucal lobe. The 

 skin of the metatarsus close to the proximal ends of the digits 

 and of the plantar pad is scantily hairy, like the lower side of the 

 webs and digits ; but above it is thickly haired as in L. Intra. 



In Lutra cinerea the feet differ from those of Lutra lutra and 

 L. maculicoUis in being- narrower owing to the shortness of the 

 digits and the comparative shallowness and narrowness of the 

 webs, which reach only to the pi-oximal end of the digital pads, 

 those joining the second and third, and fourth and fifth digits 

 being decidedly emarginate, although not quite to the same 

 extent as in cursorial and fossorial Mustelidse. The claws, more- 

 over, are very short, almost erect, and quite concealed when the 

 feet are examined from below. The plantar pads also are better 

 developed and more normal in shape, being longer than wide, 

 subsymmetrical and four-lobed, the inner main lobe being pro- 

 longed by the pollical and hallucal elements. In the hind foot 

 the outer main lobe is distinctly divided into an anterior and 

 posterior portion by a transverse groove and almost in contact in 

 the middle line with the internal lateral lobe. Above this pad 

 the metatarsal area is mostly covered with naked wrinkled skin, 

 the heel only being hairy. In the fore foot the carpal pad is 

 relatively as lai^ge as in L. lutra, but it is defined above by a 

 naked strip of skin over which the hair of the wrist does not 

 extend. The lower sides of the webs and the grooves between 

 the pads are beset with small hairs, but they axe shorter and fewer 

 than in L. maculicoUis. 



In Aonyx cajjensis*, the African clawless Otter, the hind foot 

 is very like that of L. cinerea in the development of the digits 

 and webs ; but the hair on the metatarsal area extends farther 

 towards the plantai- pad. The fore foot also is tolerably similar 

 to that of L. cinerea apart from the great difference that the 

 webs between the digits reach only to the distal end of the first 

 phalange, the ends of the digits being free. This terminal 

 freedom of the digits from webbing is not found in any of the 

 cursorial or fossorial Mustelidae. A further peculiarity of this 

 Otter is the suppression of the claws on the fore foot and on the 

 first, second, and fifth digits of the hind foot. On the third and 

 fourth digits of the hind foot they are merely retained as small 

 flattish nails. 



* I am greatly indebted to Mr. Fitzsimons, of the Port Elizabeth Museum, for very 

 kindly sending me at my special request an example of this Otter from the collection 

 under his charge. It was a mounted specimen, and the method of preservation made 

 it impossible for me to ascertain the precise shape of the plantar and carpal pads. 



