MUSTELIDA: 571 
The Sea-Otter (L. lutris, Fig. 262) is the sole representative of 
this genus. The entire length of the animal from nose to end of 
tail is about 4 feet, so that the body is considerably larger and 
more massive than that of the English Otter. The skin is peculiarly 
loose, and stretches when removed from the animal so as to give 
the idea of a still larger creature than it really is. The pellage is 
remarkable for the preponderance of the beautifully soft woolly 
under fur, the longer stiffer hairs being very scanty. The general 
colour is a deep liver brown, everywhere silvered or frosted with 
the hoary tips of the longer hairs. These are, however, removed 
when the skin is dressed for commercial purposes. 
Fic, 262.—The Sea-Otter (Latax lutris). From Wolf, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1865, pl. vii. 
Sea-Otters are only found upon the rocky shores of certain 
parts of the North Pacific Ocean, especially the Aleutian Islands 
and Alaska, extending as far south on the American coast as Oregon; 
but, owing to the unremitting persecution to which they are sub- 
jected for the sake of their skins, which rank among the most 
valuable known to the furrier, their numbers are greatly diminish- 
ing, and, unless some restriction can be placed upon their destruc- 
tion, such as that which protects the Fur-Seals of the Pribyloff 
Islands, the species is threatened with extermination, or, at all 
events, excessive scarcity. When this occurs, the occupation of 
five thousand of the half-civilised natives of Alaska, who are 
dependent upon Sea-Otter hunting as a means for obtaining their 
living, will be gone. The principal hunting grounds at present are 
the little rocky islets and reefs around the island of Saanach and 
