58 



Habitat- — North America at large, being somewhat sparingly distribu- 

 ted over most of the waters of the continent ; said to occur in Central 

 America. 



The Otter appears to be nowhere in great abundance, nor yet wanting 

 in few if any localities adapted to its habits. Its wildness, wariness, and 

 sagacity, and the nature of its haunts, all conduce to its existence even 

 in well settled districts. Mr. Allen speaks of it as not rare in Massachu- 

 setts in 1869. One was brought to the Smithsonian Institution in 1874, 

 taken from the Potomac near Washington City. It is still abundant in 

 Florida, where the natural thinness of its fur tends to its preservation. 

 The " Eastern Shore " of Maryland seems to have always been a favorite 

 resort of the Otter. It is abundant northward, 11,000 skins being set 

 down for 1873, in the Hudson's Bay Company's London quotations. The 

 southern limits of distribution are not settled ; no unquestionable evi- 

 dence is at hand of its occurrence in Mexico. 



Specific Characters. — Orbits well defined by prominent conical post- 

 orbital processes, the distance between the tips of which is one-half or 

 more of the intermastoid width of the skull ; inner depressed moiety of 

 posterior upper premolar as large and nearly as long as the main outer 

 moiety; general dentition strong; naked nasal pad (an inch long or 

 broad in full-grown individuals) extending back above the nostrils in a 

 V-shaped outline, reaching below the nostrils with a straight transverse 

 border, which soifietimes sends a slight spur part way down the median 

 line of the lip ; palms hairy between the digits isolating the individual 

 bald digital bulbs, and having an isolated patch or carpal peninsula of 

 hair posteriorly ; soles hairy between the digits, isolating the individual 

 digital bulbs, much encroached upon by hair from behind, and having 

 three or four peculiar, small, circular, elevated callosities arranged around 

 the posterior border of the main bald plantar surface ; (form, stature, and 

 coloration not diagnostic ;) finally attaining a length of four feet or more ; 

 liver-brown, with purplish gloss, paler on the under surface of the head, 

 throat, and breast. 



External Characters. — The massive columnar body without constricted 

 neck ; small, round head ; small eyes and ears ; long, taper tail ; short, 

 stout limbs; broad webbed feet; close-set, glossy hair, and abundant 

 wooly under-fur-, common to the genus, are shared by the Otter. The 

 nasal pad is well developed, bald, in general shape an equilateral penta- 

 gon ; the whiskers are short, stout, stiff bristles, in several series ; the 

 eyes are small, nearer the muzzle than the ear ; the ears are small, with 

 a thin, pointed conch, about as long as the adjacent fur ; the entrance is 

 covered with fur ; the short, front limb has a stout wrist, and broad, fiat 



