56 



der bridge of bone ; posterior nares thrown into one conduit ; palate 

 extending far back of molars ; pterygoids strongly hamulate. 



Many of the above expressions are applicable to sub-family Lutrinse as 

 a whole. 



Particular points of Lutra proper, are the presence of perfect claws, as 

 opposed to their rudimentary condition in some of the Old World Otters 

 (or even wanting, as in Leptonyx and Aonyx), and in the lack of special 

 dilatation of the tail, as in the South American Pterura or Pteronura. 

 The iMtrinse, as designated, formerly included the Sea Otter, Enhydris 

 lutris, which has the general aspect and cranial features of the ordinary 

 Otter. Its hind limbs, however, are flipper-like organs, not very unlike 

 those of some Seals ; the teeth are pebble-like, moreover, instead of sharp 

 and angular, as in ordinary carnivores ; indeed, the whole dentition is 

 adapted to a piscivorous diet. While the Sea Otter has, like the Common 

 Otter, the same number of teeth above and below, it l^acks one pair of 

 incisors below, and one pair of pre-molars above, reducing the dentition 

 to thirty-two. These diflerences are the basis of the sub-family Enhy- 

 drinse, with the Sea Otter as its only representative. 



Besides Latra canadensis, there is a Mexican species, Lutra californica, 

 Gray, which Dr. Coues thinks distinct from L. bradliemis. These, with 

 LiUra vulgaris, are the distinct, or probably distinct, species with which, 

 as will be seen by the synonymy, the widely distributed Latra canadensis 

 has been confounded. 



Lutra canadensis. Sabine. 

 Common Otter; Land Otter; American Otter. 



1806. Mustela canadensis, Turton, S. N., i, 1806, 57 (not Mustela canadensis, 

 id., ibid., 59, which is M. pennanli, the Pekan ; not of Schreber, 

 nor of Erxleben, nor of authors). 



1816. Latra gracilis, Oken, Lehrb. Naturg. Th., iii, Abth., ii, 1816, 986 

 • (" Stiatenland, Insel. an Amerika, bei New York"). 



1823. Lihtra canadensis, " P. Cuvier, Diet. Sc. Nat., xxvii, 1823, 242. — Is. 

 Geoff., Diet. Class., ix, 520." — J. Sabine, App. Frankl. Jour., 1823, 

 653.— Less., Man., 1827, 154, No. 414.— Griff, An. King., v, 1827, 

 130, No. 362.— Pisch., Syn., 1829, 225.— Rich., P. B. A., i, 1829, 

 57, No. 20.— Emmons, " Rep. Quad. Mass., 1838, 25 ; " Rep. Quad. 

 Mass., 1840, 46.— Rich., Zool. Beechey's Voy., 1839, 4.— Maxim., 

 Reise N. Am., i, 1839, 211; Arch. Naturg., 1861, 236; Verz. N. 

 A. Saug., 1862, 60, pi. 8, 6 (os penis).— DeKay, N. Y. Zool., i, 

 1842, 39, pi. 3, f. 1, pi. 33, f. 1, 2, 3 (skull).— Linsley, Am. Jour. 

 Sci., xliii, 1842.— Schinz, Syn., i, 1844, 349, No. 5— Aud. & 



