16 
MAMMALIA. FERA. 
Lute4. 
in Ireland, so late as 1710. King Edgar is said to have reduced their 
numbers greatly, by commuting certain punishments for a given num- 
ber of wolves’ tongues. Succeeding, princes had recourse to various 
expedients to restrain their increase. The progress of civilisation at 
length effected their destruction. Among our Saxon ancestors, Janu- 
ary was called the Wolf -months as at that season they were particularly 
destructive. An outlaw, was said to be wolf-shed. Independent of the 
voice of tradition or history, the remains of this animal in limestone 
caves, attest its former residence in this country. 
Extinct Hycena. 
This species, not now known alive on the globe, and which appears to 
have been of the size of the brown bear, nearly resembles in its osteo- 
logy the Cape Hyaena. Plate 3d of Buckland’s Rel. Dil., exhibits a com- 
parative view of the teeth of the two species. The remains of this 
animal have occurred in caves at Kirkdale and Plymouth, and in allu- 
vial clay at Lawford, near Rugby, in Warwickshire. The learned 
Professor, in the above work, infers, from the number of bones of other 
animals occurring in sharp fragments, with the marks of the hysena’s 
teeth upon them, along with the excrement of that animal, that the 
Kirkdale Cave had long been occupied as a hyaena’s den, and that 
this species possessed the habit of carrying into caves the remains of 
its prey. 
3. Extinct Tiger. 
Remains of this animal have occurred in the caves of Kirkdale and Ply- 
mouth. They equal, if not exceed in size similar bones belonging to 
the Bengal Tiger. Buck. Rel. Dil. p. 17-72. Plate vi. f. 5, 6, 7* The 
two last extinct species, it may be added, occur in similar circumstan-r 
ces, in many places on the Continent of Europe*. 
PALMATA. 
1. Incisors and Tusks in both jaws. 
Gen. XIV. LUTRA. Otter.— With the three kinds of 
grinders, and six incisors in each jaw. 
21. \j. vulgaris. Common Otter.— Fur blackish-brown, with 
a white spot on each side of the nose, and another under the 
chin. 
Lutra, Merr. Pin. p. 1 67.— Scot. p. 10— Ray, Quad. p. 187 — Mus- 
tek Lutra, Lin. Syst. 1. p. 66.— Pm. Br. Zool. 1. p. 92. tab. viii. No. 19. 
Dyfrgi; G, Doran, Dorchie.— Not uncommon. Near lakes and 
rivulets. 
The usual length of the body of the otter is about 2 feet, and the tail 16 
inches. The ears are minute : the nostrils furnished with a valve for closing 
them when diving ( eyes small, with a dorsal aspect and lateral eyelid ; feet 
with five toes, and strong grooved nails ; tongue smooth — In the female, the 
external organ of generation is a small pouch, in which is the entrance to the 
vagina. It burrows in the banks of rivulets, and brings forth five young. 
In Zetland (where it is called Tylte\ the otter frequents the sea-shore. In 
* On the subject of the extinct quadrupeds of Britain ; see a paper which 
I published in the Edin. Phil. Journ. vol. ix. p. 287., “ Remarks illustrative 
of the influence of Society on the Distribution of British Animals.” 
