208 CARNIVORA. 



the type I have figured under the name L. monticola. The skull of the first of 

 these is so closely allied to the skull of L. vulgaris that it is difficult to detect 

 the points wherein it differs from the skull of the European Otter. But, even in 

 external appearance, the Otter of this type is so ahke to L. vulgaris that Blyth^ 

 regarded an Otter from Algiers, which has the skuU of the European Otter, as 

 identical with this Otter of India. Blyth, however, does not appear to have been 

 aware of the circumstance that the great majority of the Bengal Otters with 

 which he was dealing were distinguished by skulls resembhng the skull of the 

 European Otter, because all the skulls mentioned in his Catalogue of Mammals 

 were of the form figm-ed in this work (Plate XII, figs. 1 to 3), whereas only one 

 of his specimens had a skuU resembhng that figure ; the skuUs of all the other 

 Otters he was dealing with, having, unknown to him, resembled the skuU of the 

 European Otter, and being identical specifically with the skull of the Otter first 

 described by E. Cuvier as L. nair. 



The only differences that can be detected between these skulls and the skull of 

 the European Otter are these : that the latter is slightly broader across the external 

 meatus and between the tympanies on the base of the skull, that the zygomatic 

 arch is more upwardly curved in its first j)ortion, and that the teeth are smaller than 

 in the Nepal and Bengal skulls. The differences, however, that exist between these 

 skulls are almost equalled by the differences that subsist between the skull of the 

 Algerian Otter and the skulls of Otters from Europe. 



The type of L. nair, E. Cuvier, is in the Paris Museum, and M. Alphonse 

 M. -Edwards obligingly had the skull removed from the skin for my inspection, and 

 permitted me to have the accompanying faitliful figure of it (Plate XI) executed for 

 this work. A comparison of this figure with that of the adult skull of the European 

 Otter (Blainville, Osteog. vol. ii. fig. 8) will be sufficient to convince the observer 

 that it is closely allied to that species, and it will be noticed that L. nair, like the 

 skull of L. vulgaris, has no post-orbital swelling. Mature, but not old, skulls from 

 Bengal and the Himalaya have generally a lengthened post-orbital area, and in skulls 

 of L. vulgaris, of the same age, a similar lengthened interval occurs between the 

 post-orbital process and the brain-case ; and it is only in old animals that the 

 European Otter skull assumes the form depicted by BlainviUe, in which the 

 post-orbital interval is very much reduced and concave ; and only in similarly old 

 individuals that the skuU of the Indian Otter takes on the characters of the type 

 (Plate XI) . I am indebted to Dr. Giinther for the opportunity to examine the skull 

 of L. indica, Gray, which he had specially extracted from the type specimen to 

 assist me in these observations. After a careful consideration of the characters 

 of this skull, it appears to me to be specifically identical with the skull of i. 

 nair, E. Cuv. 



The general colour of the animal is umber-brown, but there is always a tendency 

 in the fm- to a slight grizzhng, as there is an area immediately below the tip of each 

 hair paler than the rest of the hau\ This character appears to increase with age, so 

 that in the old animal the grizzling of the fur becomes intensified, and is further 



' Cat. Mamm. As. Soc. Mus. 1863, p. 72. 



