north American beavers, otters and fishers. 429 



Anatomical Characters. — Size, large. Tail relatively long {fide Bangs). Inferior 

 webs of feet and interspace of palms nearly naked. Hind foot with claw reaching 

 maximum (No. 4998 Bangs Coll., yg. ad. J 1 , Citronelle, Florida) of 130 mm. Total 

 length (maximum of No. 4998, /. c, 1285 mm.) exceeding 1200 mm. Skull large, 

 teeth relatively small, not crowded longitudinally. Postorbital neck of frontals long and 

 narrow, suddenly constricted at base. Frontal plane strongly upraised above a line con- 

 necting occipital crest with base of nasals and above the level of postorbital processes. 

 Mastoid width nearly equaling the zygomatic width in very old specimens, in young adult 

 skulls the mastoid width is the greater. Wings of mastoid processes strongly developed 

 and flattened laterally. Audital bulla? as in hudsonica and lataxina ; well developed, 

 tumid at basioccipital margins. Postorbital processes relatively weak and slender. 

 Underfill* short, sparse. 



Measurements. — See tables. 



Remarks. — This subspecies just described by Mr. Bangs in his most valuable 

 paper on Florida and Georgia mammals is, as already noticed, quite different from 

 lataxina, its nearest geographic ally. In color it comes nearer hudsonica intermediates 

 from New England. In size and color and lack of hair on the webs and palms it shows 

 approach to the remote pacifica, but its peculiar long-waisted and broad-based skull dis- 

 tinguishes it from all other American forms except, perhaps, those of the northern Cen- 

 tral American and South American otters which I have examined. The yellowish 

 and reddish shades of south Florida vac/a suggest affinity with what we find published of 

 the characters of the otters of the Caribbean coasts. In essential respects Mr. Bangs' 

 diagnosis of this animal is very good. He, however, used the skull of a young adult 

 male for cranial comparisons, and while it is true that the ratio of the mastoid to the 

 zygomatic width is much greater in vaga than hudsonica it is not as great as would 

 appear by Mr. Bangs' figure. In crania of old adult vaga in my collection the mastoid 

 and zygomatic widths are about equal, the latter slightly wider. In hudsonica, however, 

 the excess of zygomatic width and slight development of the mastoid wings is marked. 



Specimens Examined. — Florida, Tarpon Springs, 1 adult pelt, 8 young skins with 

 skulls and 2 extra skulls; Salt Run, St. John's river, 1 skull. 



Pacific Otter. Lutra hudsonica pacifica, subsp. nov. 

 Plate XXIV ; Fig. 3. Plate XXV ; Figs. 1 and 3. 



Lutra paranensis and aterrima Thomas, P. Z. 8., /.<?., p. 199; Trouessart, Catal. JIamm., 

 1897, pp. 286, 287 (not of Pallas, Zoogr. Ross. Asiat, 1811, p. 81). 



Lutra californica Baird, Mamm. N. Amer., 1857, p. 187 (not of Gray, Mag. Nat. Hist.. 

 I, 1835, p. 580, which is L. felina; see Thomas, /. c, p. 198). 



