LUTRA LEPTGNYX. 
Simung, of the Inhabitants of Sumatra. Sir T. & Rqfftetfs Cat of a Zool CoU Tr. 
Linn. Soc. XIII. p. 254. 
Gryze Otter, Verh, van Jiet Batamaasch Genoolsckap, Deel, II. p. 457. 
AS the appearance which the Javanese Otter presents on a superficial view, 
may occasion the remark, that its separation from the common Otter of northern 
climates is a needless augmentation of the Systematic Catalogue, I have, in the 
following description, entered into more details than the nature of the subject would 
otherwise require. There is perhaps no genus among quadrupeds, in which the 
discrimination of the species requires a greater nicety of comparison. The Common 
Otter, the Javanese Otter, and the American Otter, (including both the Canadian 
and Brazilian Otter of authors), are so nearly alike in external appearance, that the 
specific character drawn by Linnaeus for the Mustela Lutra, applies to them all. 
But as research is extended, and as new subjects are added to our Collections, a 
greater amplitude is required, both in the specific character and in the descriptions, 
in order to afford means to the naturalist to discriminate those species, which, 
from an agreement in several external characters, are liable to be confounded, 
When I first observed the Lutra leptonyx, I considered it as specifically the same 
as the Common Otter of Europe and Asia. My opinion was formed only from ifcs 
general external appearance ; and I was confirmed in it by the observation, that the 
Javanese Fauna contains various subjects which are likewise found in Europe. Of 
these I may enumerate the Golden Plover— Charadri us pluvialis; the Kentish Plover 
— Charadrius Cantianus ; and the Common Snipe — Scolopax Gallinago. Even in 
the White Owl, the Strix flammea of Linnaeus, as existing in Java and Great 
Britain, no clear distinction can be pointed out ; and several other subjects have been 
enumerated in the Systematic Catalogue of Birds from Java. In the vegetable 
kingdom a similar fact lias been observed ; and Botanists are acquainted with several 
plants, which preserve the same character in the most distant countries. But a more 
accurate inquiry than I was able to make in Java, and a careful comparison of 
specimens of the different species of the genus, have shewn to me that this remark 
does not apply to the Javanese and to the Common Otter. The characters which dis- 
tinguish the American Otter, are detailed with great precision by Joseph Sabine, Esq., 
in the comprehensive account of the Quadrupeds and Birds, of which specimens 
were collected during Captain Franklin's journey to the shores of the Polar Sea, 
which has contributed greatly to the illustration of the Zoology of Arctic America. 
