446 BRASILIAN OTTER. 
the hind feet in the specimen now mentioned 
measured eight inches across : the tongue was 
four inches long, and rounded at the end, with a 
slight fissure, giving the tip a bifid appearance. 
In this respect, as well as in the structure of the 
hind feet^ the Sea Otter makes an evident ap- 
proach to the Seal. 
BRASILIAN OTTER. 
Lutra Brasiliana. L. atra, gutture Jiaw. 
Black Otter with yellow throat. 
Lutra nigricans, cauda depressa et plana. Barr, Fr. eqvin.p. 155. 
Brasilian Otter. Pennant Quadr. 2. p. y^. 
This species is said to be of the size of a mid- 
dling dog, and entirely of a black colour, except 
the head, which is brown, and the throat, which 
is yellow: the eyes are small and black; the 
whiskers large; the ears round; the feet like 
those of a Monkey, and with five toes^ of which 
the interior is the shortest; the claws sharp; the 
tail flat and naked, and reaching no farther than 
the feet. It is a native of Brasil and Guiana, 
and about the borders of the Oronoko, and is said 
to live chiefly on fish and crabs. It is reckoned 
a good food, and without any fishy taste. In the 
Gmelinian edition of the Systema Naturae this 
species is considered as a variety of the Sea Otter. 
