544 MR. R. I. POCOCK ON THE EXTERNAL 



Thus four genera of Otters occur in Africa: Lutra liotra, 

 north of the Saliara, Hydrogale maculicoUis and Aonyx capensis, 

 south of the Sahara, and Paraonyx congicus, etc., in the Congo 

 area ; and three in India, where the}' seem to be widely dis- 

 tributed : Lutra lutra or allied species ; Lutrogale barang ; and 

 Aonhlonyx cinerea*. 



Omitting Lutrogale barang, whose external chai'acters are only 

 known to me from descriptions which supply no evidence of 

 difterence from Lutra httra, these Otters may be distinguished as 

 follows : — 



a. Fore feet with digits unweLbed; hind feet webbed to proximal end 

 of second phalange ; superciliary and upper genal vibrissse sup- 

 pressed (Hinton) Paraonyx. 



a'. Fore feet with digits at least half- webbed ; hind feet webbed at 

 least to proximal end of third phalange ; superciliary and upper 

 genal vibrisste retained. 

 b. Fore feet webbed to proximal end of second phalange; facial 



vibrissae comparatively slender and soft Aonyx. 



h'. Fore feet webbed at least to proximal end of third phalange; 

 facial vibrissae comparatively stout and stiff. 

 c. Claws small or vestigial; digits short, webs narrow, reaching to 

 proximal end of digital pads ; hairs on metatarsus restricted 

 to calcaneum ; skull short, especially behind zygomatic arches. Amhlonyx. 

 c'. Claws long, digits longer, webs wider, reaching at least half- 

 way along digital pads ; metatarsus hairy to plantar pad ; 

 skull long behind zygomatic iirch. 

 d. Digits longer, more fully webbed, plantar pads poorly 

 developed, especially on hind foot, carpal pad small, webs 

 hairy below ; rhinarium nearly covered with hair ; ear 

 simplified ; skull with muzzle and mesopterygoid fossa 



short Sydrictis. 



d'. Digits short, less fully webbed, plantar pads well developed, 

 carpal pad Lirge, webs naked belovv; rhinarium naked; 

 ear with well-developed tragus, antitragns, and supra- 

 tragus ; skull with muzzle and mesopterygoid fossa long... Lutra. 



The Descent of the Lutrince. 



So far as I am av.'are, Miller is the only author who has 

 attempted to affiliate tlie Lutrinee definitely with one of the other 

 subfamilies of Mustelidae. This is embodied in the suggestion 

 that they "appear to be essentially badgers modified for semi- 

 aquatic life." Even granting the widest possible meaning to the 

 word " badgers," I am quite unable to agree with this view. 

 Miller, I think, placed too mucli reliance upon the teeth ; but 

 it does not appear to nie that the teeth of Liitra lutra, perhaps 

 the least modified of all the Otters, are more like those of Meles 

 than of Martes. Again, in the Otters the shape of the skull, with 

 its fiat or slightly arched crown, its short muzzle, long back, and 

 forwardly set posterior palatine foramina, forcibly recalls that of 

 Mustela or Grison, and is quite unlike that of Meles, or indeed of 

 any of the genera usually referred to the Melihse, in all of which 

 the skull has a long jaw and short back and, except in the 



* I have not examined the type of Gray's genus Barangia, namely sumatrana, 

 which is, I believe, the only other admitted species of Old Woi'ld Otter, 



