FLESH-EATING MAA/J/ALS. 



77 



may be rudimental or wanting. With the exception of Australia and New 



Guinea, otters are cosmopolitan in their distribution, the largest species 



being the Brazilian otter. They are expert divers and swimmers, feeding 



entirely on fish, for the capture and 



retention of which their powerful and 



sharply-cusped teeth are admirably 



suited. The total number of teeth is 



36. Nearly allied to the otters is the 



sea-otter {Latax lutris), distinguished by 



having only 32 teeth, among which the 



lower incisors are reduced to two pairs, 



the blunt and rounded tubercles of the 



molars, and the flipper-like hind-feet, in 



which the toes are flattened, as in the 



seals, and the fifth toe is the longest 



and stoutest. The head is rounded, the 



ears very small, the tail short and J^ig'. 47.— Coati (A'as!iari//a). 



bushy, and the pellage with a beautiful 



under-fur. The total length of the animal is about four feet. Natur- 

 alists have hitherto believed that the sea-otter when on land has the 



hind-toes turned forwards, but Mr. Snow, of Yokohama, states that this is 



incorrect, and tliat they are really doubled backwards, beneath the soles. 

 The southern range of the sea-otter. extends as far as Southern California and 

 Mexico. On the Asiatic side, it occurs at the Koraandorski Islands, Kara- 

 schatka, and the Kurile Islands. As a rule, only one is produced at birth, but 

 occasionally two. Mr. Snow has seen two small pups with their mother, and 

 has taken two from the inside of an otter he killed. It is not absolutely 

 known at what age the otter arrives at maturity. Mr. Snow believes that it 

 does so in the third year. Crabs and sea-urchins are the usual contents of 

 the stomach, but occasionally small fish and spawn are also found. The 

 crabs are crushed by the strong molar teeth, it being impossible that the 

 crushing is produced by the striking of two shells together, as the form of 

 the fore-feet will not allow of anything being grasped. Tlie otter dives for 

 its food, and returns to the surface with the prey held between its two fore- 

 paws, in which it continues to hold it while eating it. On many occasions 

 Mr. Snow has seen schools of from 10 to 60 or more otters together some 10 

 or 16 miles from any land, but not of late years. The mode of capture 

 adopted by Europeans is to "run" the sea-otter with three boats, each 

 mailncd by four or five men, a hunter being in the bow armed with a rifle. 

 When an otter is " raised " (as it is called), the boats proceed to surround it, 

 lying some 500 to 600 yards apart in the form of a triangle. The boats are so 

 manoeuvred that the otter is kept between them. Every time the animal 

 makes its appearance above the water, it is shot at, until it is secured. When 

 the sea-otter is netted, it becomes entangled in the meshes and drowned. 

 The long white hairs of the fur are its chief beauty. They are not removed 

 when it is prepared for use. A skin has sold for upwards of £225. 



The skunks of America are the first representatives of a seci md sub-family 

 in which the feet are elongated, with straight toes, and non-retractile, slightly 

 curved, somewhat compressed, and blunt claws, which are of 

 very large size in the hind-foot ; the form of the upper Skmiks. 



molar bemg variable. The typical skunks (Mephitis), which 

 are confined to North and Central America, are easily recognised by their 



