ENHYDEIODON. 



331 



XYII. ON ENHYDEIODON (AMTXODON), A FOSSIL 

 GENUS ALLIED TO LUTRA, FROM THE 

 TERTIARY STRATA OF THE SEWALIK 

 HILLS.i 



BY H. FALCONER, M.D, 



Till comparatively lately naturalists were only acquainted 

 with tlie aquatic Mustelidce through, the true Otters ; and the 

 few species known were so much alike, and so weU defined, 

 that Cuvier ranked them merely as a sub-genus of Mustela. 

 Subsequent researches brought to light a remarkable devia- 

 tion from the ordinary type, in the dentition of Enhydra. 

 The genus which we are now to describe exhibits a still 

 wider departure from the Otter form in its teeth, the 

 carnassier being so singularly modified that, when detached, 

 it is with diflBlculty recognized to be that carnivorous tooth. 

 At the same time the other characters of the head are so 

 clear and marked that not a shadow of doubt remains in 

 regard to the animal having been a true lutrine Mustelida. 

 The genus is further remarkable in the tribe for the size 

 which it attained, one of the species having been nearly as 

 large as the Indian panther. 



The specimens on which the determination rests are three 

 heads (see PI. XXVIL), which taken together are so com- 

 plete in regard to the teeth and general form of the cranium, 

 that little remains to be desired respecting the more import- 

 ant characters, except the form of the articular surface for 

 the lower jaw, which is not shown in any of the specimens. 

 There is also a fragment of the lower jaw, containing the 

 two rear molars, but it wants the ascending ramus and 

 condyle. 



• This paper ■was ■written in December 

 1843, but -was never published. The 

 three heads referred to in the memoir 

 are new in the British Museum, and 

 ■were figured in an unpubhshed plate of 

 the 'Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis,' (P.) 

 On this plate the species is named 

 Enhydrwdon ferox. The specimens 

 ■were afterwards named by Dr. Falconer 

 on labels in the British Museum, 

 Enhydriodon Sivcdensis. On the same 



plate of the Fauna a skull and a lower 

 ja^w of another ne'w species of Otter 

 are figured, under the designation of Lic- 

 tra Palmindica. These specimens are 

 also in the British Museum, Cat. Nos. 

 37,157 and 37,152 (see description of 

 Plate P.). The annexed dra^wings in 

 PI. xxvii. have been copied from the 

 unpublished plate of the Fauna, above 

 referred to. — [Ed.] 



