1 66 Memoirs of the Indian Museum. [Voi,. V, 



p. 184 of his volume in the (t Fauna" properly refers. This note describes the concerted 

 action of six individuals in fishing. Otters were seen swimming at some distance 

 from shore in Balugaon Bay, but they were more commonly observed among the 

 rocks at Barkul Point. The specimen shot at this place had a number of ticks on its 

 feet ; these have been identified by Prof. G. H. F. Nuttall and Mr. C. Warburton 

 as nymphs of a species of Aponomma. 



The precise distribution of this otter is uncertain, but it probably occurs all over 

 the Indian Peninsula. 



Order CET ACE A. 



Orcaella brevirostris (Owen). 



1878. Orcella fluminalis and 0. brevirostris, Anderson, Zool. Anat. Results Yunnan, pp. 358-416, pis. 



xxv, figs. 4, 5, xxva, xxvii, figs. 3, etc. 

 1891. Orcella brevirostris and . fluminalis , Blanford, Faun. Brit. Ind., Mammalia (pt 2), pp. 578, 



579» %• 189- 

 1891. Orcella brevirostris , Oldfield Thomas, Ann. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. Genova (2) X (XXX), p. 947. 



1912. Orcella brevirostris, Turner, Marine Mamm. Anat. Mus. Edinburgh, p. 109. 

 A large male was found in a decomposing condition on the shore of Kalidai Id. 

 in February, 1914. There was no indication of the manner in which it had met its 

 death and only the skeleton could be preserved. 



0. brevirostris lives in the outer channel of the Chilka Lake at all times of the 

 year, in fresh as well as in salt water. In this part of the lake-system it was usually 

 seen in small parties of three or four. When the lake was full, these parties kept to 

 the middle of the channel, but in March they hung round the fishermen fishing close 

 inshore with small seine-nets, swimming within a few feet of the men and being 

 apparently attracted by their shouts. At Satpara, individuals were frequently ob- 

 served rolling over and over on a shelf of sand at the margin of the lake ; the water 

 was so shallow that it did not cover more than half their bodies, but the animals, 

 though apparently abandoning themselves to play, slipped over into deeper water 

 instantaneously on the slightest movement on shore. They seemed to be far more 

 suspicious in this direction than of any danger from the water. Out in the channel 

 they commonly follow boats, and we were told that there was a man living near Sat- 

 para who could call them up to his boat and spear them for the sake of their oil, 

 which in Orissa, as in other parts of India, is regarded as a cure for rheumatism, ap- 

 plied externally. 



In the main area of the lake their habits are somewhat different, probably on 

 account of the. different nature of the shore and of differences in the distribution of 

 the food-supply. They seem to desert this area completely in the latter part of the 

 rains and none were observed in it in August, September or October. They were 

 seen, however, in July and November. Off Ganta Sila and Barkul Point they fre- 

 quently swim up and down opposite some rock or groups of rocks and a single indivi- 

 dual would often seem to reserve to itself, at any rate for some days at a time, a spe- 

 cial beat. This was noted both in February and March and in July. The Cetacean 



