184 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 68 



The most recent record is of a sea otter taken at Grassie Island, 

 Kyuquot, in 1929 (Cowan and Guiguet, 1956). Concerning this 

 specimen Guiguet wrote in a letter (1958) that — 



We have one specimen record (skin) of an adult sea otter taken at Kyuquot 

 Sound (Grassie Island) in the autumn of 1929 and donated to the Provincial 

 Museum by the B. C. Game Commission. There are few details, the animal 

 was not sexed, measured or the skull preserved. Since that time we have no 

 authentic report, but many "sight" records, and of those investigated all 

 proved to be river otter. ... As far as we know, the sea otter has yet to re- 

 establish on the British Columbia coast. 



WASHINGTON 



The last authentic record of sea otters on the Washington coast 

 is of "several" being killed at Willapa Harbor in 1910 (Scheffer, 

 1940). 



The river otter is frequently seen in salt water along the outer 

 coast and among the islands and inland waterways of Washington 

 State. Observers often report these to us as sea otters. To date, all 

 sightings that could be investigated proved to be of river otters. 

 C. Vandersluys of Friday Harbor, Wash., who is familiar with the 

 inland waters, wrote (letter, 1963) : 



We did see a group of otter last summer, off the San Juan Islands. In fact, 

 this animal seems to be increasing in number in this area each year. Locally 

 we call them land otter, and to my knowledge, I have never seen a sea otter 

 around here. 



I have searched the outer coast of Washington many times dur- 

 ing the past 10 years but have never confirmed any report of sea 

 otters there (Kenyon and Scheffer, 1962). 



Although originally numerous on the outer coast of Washington, 

 it is doubtful whether the sea otter ever occurred on inland waters 

 at any distance from the open-sea coast. Scheffer (1940) says, 

 "There are no authentic records of the sea otter in Puget Sound 

 or the San Juan Islands.'' Dr. E. Gunther (letter, 1963) told me: 



Peter Puget's Journal of the exploration of Puget Sound, May 7 to June 11, 

 1792 [from] Pacific Northwest Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 2, April 1939 . . . 

 commented on the absence of sea otters in Puget Sound (p. 200). . . . [From] 

 Menzie's Journal of Vancouver's Voyage: "We saw but few sea otter skins 

 amongst them [the natives] which shows that these animals do not much 

 frequent the interior channels." 



Dr. R. E. Greengo, Professor of Anthropology at the University 

 of Washington, told me in 1963 that he and his students have care- 

 fully examined about 30 midden sites in the Puget Sound area. 

 Among the many bones found, only two, from Sucia Island in the 



