152 ON THE GENUS LUTRA. 



tish stone or rolled boulder just appearing above water, or but 

 slightly covered ; here he makes his repast, breaking the shell and, 

 eating its contents. Iu navigating rivers with boats or canoes, 

 rocks and flat stones, on or near the surface, may be frequently 

 observed with collections of open and shattered shells upon them ; 

 indicating the spot to which an otter had resorted for the purpose 

 of dining, a board where he could best get over the troublesome 

 process of getting into the dish. These dinner-tables of the otter 

 are worthy of the conchologist's regard, as likely to furnish occa- 

 sionally a rare bivalve. 



The remarks just made, although drawn from observation of 

 the habits of Lutra Canadensis, are applicable, I daresay, in 

 a great measure, to the other otters ; and we now arrive at the 

 more particular consideration of the Lutra destructor. I pur- 

 pose to show that there exists throughout a great portion of the 

 British territory in North America, if not farther south, a smaller 

 species of otter, well known to the aboriginal Ojibways and the 

 Crees, as the PinaikiwaVjkeek, the breaker of beaver-houses and 

 dams. He closely resembles the larger otter in dentition, color, 

 and shape, but is of more slender structure, and possesses marked 

 differences in the proportions of the cranial bones. He has 

 besides distinct habits, and modes of life, especially in his search 

 for sustenance, which I think altogether entitle us to consider him 

 as specifically separated from the Lutra Canadensis. 



Through the kindness of Professor Baird, of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, I have been favored with drawings of the skulls of the 

 English otter, Lutra vulgaris, and of Lutra destructor, the latter 

 taken from a specimen sent by me to the Institution about eighteen 

 months ago. A comparison of these shows differences so striking, 

 that we cannot entertain an idea of their belonging to the same 

 species, and we are thus left to the investigation of the points of 

 variance between the L. destructor and our own otter, L. Cana- 

 densis. 



The Pinaikiwawkeek or pulling-down otter, attains the length of 

 from thirty-six to forty inches, about the size of the smallest females 

 of the Lutra Canadensis, but nearly a foot shorter than the largest 

 males. From many measurements of two specimens of the two 

 species, of nearly equal size, it will be perceived how closely in some 

 respects they resemble each other, yet in other particulars how 

 they unaccountably disagree. This disagreement in the measure- 

 ments before skinning, as shown in the accompanying table, is per- 



