The Hijiory cf A N I M A L S, 5|f 
top of the forehead as in moft other animals 3 but at the very hinder part of the head, 
juft at the neck, and much lower than the eyes, as well as a great way behind therm 
The neck is very thick, and not very fhort: the body is rounded, and very flefhy 3 
the tail is extreamly thick and long, and is all the way covered with a thick fur : the 
legs are fhort, but very robuft 3 the feet are broad, and they are webbed 5 the toes are 
each armed with a fharp claw. 
The whole body is covered with a fine and tolerably deep fur, but lefs deep as well 
as lefs glofly than that of the beaver, which animal it in general greatly refembles: the 
back is of a deep chefnut brown, but with fome faint admixture of grey in it: the 
throat, the breaft, and the belly are paler, or have more of the grey ; the legs are of 
a very dark chefnut, and fo is the tail, and both are covered with a much fhorter fur 
than that of the body. 
This is very frequent in moft parts of Europe: it frequents waters, and feeds on 
fifh 5 it will keep under water a great while, and move under it with a furprifing fwift^ 
nefs. We have it in too great abundance in the fens in Lincolnfhire, where it deftroys 
the pike in great quantities, and will feize on the largeft. In the river Nen, near Pe¬ 
terborough, at about half a mile above the town, there is a part where the water is 
very clear and deep 3 I have feen them there, as I have been fifhing from a boat, pafi- 
fing with an amazing rapidity, at twenty feet under the furface* All the writers on 
quadrupeds have defcribed it 3 they call it Lutra. 
Lutra pollice digitis breviore )t I&tSttltiUt 
The Lutra, with the inner toe Jhorter than the other . tUDttZt* 
This is a large and a very beautiful animal 3 it’s length, including the tail, is neat 
four feet: the head is large, thick, rounded at the crown, but fomewhat fharp at the 
fnout: the eyes are large and black 3 the ears are very broad and open 3 they ftand ex-* 
treamly backward, almoft at the neck, and on the fides, not on the top of the head, 
but are but little more than on a level with the angles of the mouth in height: the 
noftrils are large, and there are long whifkers about the mouth: the teeth are fharp, 
and the opening of the mouth is wide and terrible. 
The body is very corpulent 5 the back broad, and the belly rounded and fwelling % 
the legs are robuft, but fhort: the toes are long, except the inner one, which an- 
fwers to the thumb on the human hand, and is very fhort and inconfiderable: the others 
are conneded by a membrane, in the manner of thofe of the water fowls: the tail is 
very long, and very thick, and is carried in a ftraight diredion. 
\\ 
The whole body is covered with a deep fur, very glofly and foft to the touch, and 
of a fine and elegant black colour: the legs are of a lefs deep black than the body, 
and the head is of a tawny brown, but the moft lingular variegation is a fpot of 
yellow on the throat. 
This is a native both of the Eaft Indies, and of South America. Marcgrave and 
Pifo have defcribed it, and we have of late had fkins of it from the Eaft. The Bra- 
filians call it liga, a name devifed in imitation of a yelping noife it makes, which is not 
unlike that of a puppy 5 they alfo call it Carigueibien. 
C A N I S. 
H E fore-teeth in the upper jaw of the Canis are acute, and there are four in** 
JL termediate ones of a trilobated figure : the canine teeth of the upper jaw are re¬ 
mote from the fore-ones: the top of the cranium is carinated. Though all dogs, 
however various in name and figure, are truly but of one fpecies, this genus compre¬ 
hends fo many other animals agreeing with them in charader, that it is extehfive. 
Canis 
