XV.] 
THE SEA-OTTER. 
271 
Nine hundred sea-otters were killed here by Steller and his 
companions in 1741-42. The following quotation is taken from 
Steller's description of this animal which is now so shy at the 
sight of man :— 
“ With respect to playfulness it surpasses every other animal 
that lives either in the sea or on the land. When it comes up 
out of the sea it shakes the water from its fur, and dresses it as 
a cat its head with its fore-paws, stretches its body, arranges its 
hair, throws its head this way and that, contemplating itself and 
its beautiful fur with evident satisfaction. The animal is so 
much taken up with this dressing of itself, that while thus 
employed it may easily be approached and killed. If one strikes 
a sea-otter twenty times across the hack, it hears it patiently, hut 
if its large beautiful tail he struck once it turns its head to its 
pursuer, as if to offer it as a mark for his club in place of the 
tail. If it eludes an attack it makes the most laughable gestures 
to the hunter. It looks at him, placing one foot above the head 
as if to protect it from the sunlight, throws itself on its back, and 
turning to its enemy as if in scorn scratches itself on the belly 
and thighs. The male and female are much attached to each 
other, embrace and kiss each other like men. The female is also 
very fond of its young. When attacked she never leaves it 
in the lurch, and when danger is not near she plays with it in a 
thousand ways, almost like a child-loving mother with her young 
ones, throws it sometimes up in the air and catches it with her 
fore-feet like a ball, swims about with it in her bosom, throws it 
away now and then to let it exercise itself in the art of 
swimming, but takes it to herself with kisses and caresses when 
it is tired.'' 
According to recent researches the sca-oiter, sea-beaver or 
Kamchatka-beaver {Enhydris kotris, Lin.) is a species neither of 
the otter nor the beaver, but belongs to a peculiar genus, allied 
to a certain extent to the walrus. Even this animal, un¬ 
surpassed in the beauty of its skin, has been long since driven 
away not only from Behring Island but also from most of the 
eager hunting had an influence not only on the number of the animals but 
also on their colour, the variety in greatest demand becoming also relatively 
less common than before. 
