191—14 INDIAN TERTIARY AND POST-TERTIARY YERTEBRATA. 
the name (which occurs in manuscripts of Dr. Falconer in the British Museum) was 
applied, as these, consisting of a skull, and a part of a mandible, are in the collection of 
the British Museum, where they are labelled Lutra palceindica. These two specimens 
are moreover figured in the “ Palaeontological Memoirs,” 1 and in the unpublished 
plates of the “Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis.” 2 The first published mention of the 
name appears to have been in the former work. At a later date (1879) Mr. P. N. 
Bose 3 gave a brief description of these specimens under the same name, and 
apparently came to the conclusion that they could not be identified with any 
described species. 
Cranium . — A view of the palatal aspect of the above-mentioned cranium is 
given in figure 1 of plate XXVII. of the present memoir ; and this and other views 
are also given in plate P. of the “Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis.” The specimen has 
lost both zygomatic arches, a part of the occiput and of the right maxilla, but is 
otherwise fairly complete : it shows the alveoli of the three incisors, and of the first 
three premolars, of the left side : pm. 4 and m. 1 of the same side are still remaining. 
The specimen was obtained in the typical Siwalik Hills, and, as already said, is now 
in the collection of the British Museum (No. 37,151): the dentition shows that it 
belonged to a fully adult individual. 
There can be no question but that the skull belongs to a true otter, and it will 
accordingly be the simplest plan to point out in what respects it differs from such of 
the living otters of India and the neighbouring countries of which figures or 
specimens of the skull are available, and subsequently to compare it with the fossil 
species mentioned above. 
In the first place it may be observed that the elongated form of the skull, and 
the shape of the hinder cheek-teeth, shows that the specimen has no affinity with the 
short-clawed Indian otter, Lutra (AonyxJ leptonyx (compare plate XXVII., fig. 1, 
with woodcut fig. 2), as is shown by the following measurements: — 
L. pahzindica. L. leptonyx. 
Length from foramen magnum to incisors 3 -57 .. 3'2 
,, of palate 2*04: .. 1'7 
Greatest width of ditto 1 * 25 .. I - 32 
Comparing the fossil skull with the skull of those species of existing Asiatic 
otters in which it is known it will be found that in Lutra vtair | and L. vulgaris 5 the 
skull is longer and proportionately wider : in both the existing forms the length of 
the palate is almost exactly the same as that of the fossil species, but its width is 
considerably greater. In comparing the fossil with the skull of the “living Indian 
otter,” by which it is presumed that Lj. nair is referred to, Mr. Bose 6 observes that 
“ the skull of the fossil is smaller, and the teeth proportionately larger. The brain- 
case is broader and higher in the fossil than in its living representative. But the 
most characteristic feature in the fossil skull is the form of the forehead. In the 
i Vol. I., pi. XXVII., figs. 6-8. 2 Plato P., figs. 1, 2. 3 1 Q,uar. Jour. Geol. Soc.,’ vol. XXXVI., pp. 133-4. 
•i Anderson, op, cit., pi. XI., fig. 3. 5 Blainville, “ Osteograpliic,” Genus Mustela, pi. VIII. 6 op. oil.,- p. 133. 
