320 
YEKTEBRATA. 
low tliera like a dog, but its short legs soon failed it, and it grew weary. It would amuse 
itself with dogs and cats as well as with their masters ; but it was a rough play-fellow, and re- 
quired to be treated cautiously, for it bit sharply. It never harmed poultry, or any other animal, 
excepting sucking-pigs, which were not safe within its reach, and it would have killed them if it 
had not been prevented. It entered all the rooms, and slept always below the bed; was very 
cleanly, and always visited one particular spot for the deposit of its excrements. 
According to D'Azara, this species inhabits the lakes and rivers of Paraguay; he at first stated 
that he did not believe that it entered salt-water, and that its geographical range did not extend 
to the river Plata; but in his French abridgment he says that the species is found in that river. 
Genus LATAXIE. — Under this title, some naturalists enumerate several other species of otter, 
as the Carolina Otter, L. lataxina ; the Trinity Otter, L. insularis ; the Chilian Otter, L. 
Chilensis ; the Peruvian Otter, L. Peruviensis ; the La Plata Otter, L. Platensis ; the Par- 
aguay Otter, L. Paroensis, &c. 
Other species of otter are ranged under the generic titles of Leptonix, Aonyx, Saricovienne, 
and Pteronure. These distinctions of nomenclature are founded upon slight peculiarities of strucr 
ture, the general characteristics of all the species being similar to those we have described. 
Genus ENHYDRA, SEA-OTTER, or SEA-BEAVER: Enhydris.—Mustela lutris of Lin- 
naeus; Mustela marina of various authors; Loutre de Kamischatha of the French. This animal, 
of which there is but one species, haunts sea-washed rocks around bays and estuaries, lives mostly 
in the water, and approximates to the seals more than to the otters in its habits. Its food is lob- 
sters and fish of various kinds. The female brings forth on land, and notwithstanding the gen- 
eral marine instincts of the animal, it has been occasionally seen far inland. It is very timid, 
and prefers the neighborhood of islands, where it can at once find food and shelter. It is found 
in the Korth Pacific, from Kamtschatka to the Yellow Sea on the Asiatic side, and from Alaska 
to California on the American coast. 
The sea-otter has a small head, large body, short legs, short tail, webbed feet, fur thick, fine 
and glossy, and generally of a brownish black, though the species vary in the depth of tint. The 
length of the head and body is four feet and upwards; tail, one foot. The skins are valuable, 
though less so than formerly ; they are chiefly consumed in China, where they are worn as badges 
of distinction by the high functionaries. Gervais says, — " According to their degree of perfection, 
and the fineness and luster of the fur, their skins at the present day are valued at 800 to 1,600 
francs. It appears that they decrease year by year, and the price tends to constant augmenta- 
tion. In the time of Steller, a company of sailors would take eight hundred of these creatures 
during an expedition. At the present time, a party of seal-catchers, Avho are also otter-hunters, 
often do not take a single one. On the coast of Japan they are now only seen occasionally." 
Fossil Mustelid.e. — The fossil remains of weasels have been found in the tertiary series in the 
bone-caves and bone-breccias at various places in Europe. 
