OTTERS. 
97 
African Otters. 
There is also the much smaller Indian clawless otter (L. cinerea) 
Clawless Otter. . . . . . v ' 
differing from the others not only by its inferior dimensions, but 
also by the rudimentary condition, or even total absence, of the claws. The upper 
teeth (shown in the figure on p. 91) are distinguished by the absence of the first 
premolar, and the great length from front to back of the molar tooth. Moreover, 
the whole skull is much shorter than in the other species. The length of the head 
and body of this otter varies from 22 to 24 inches, and that of the tail from 10| to 
13 inches. The clawless otter ranges from India through Burma and the Malay 
Peninsula and islands to China. In India it occurs in the Himalaya at low eleva¬ 
tions, in Lower Bengal and the Nilgiri Hills of Madras, and perhaps also in Ceylon. 
It appears to be the only otter found in Java. According to Mr. Blanford, the 
habits of this otter are similar to those of the other oriental species. 
The whole African continent possesses but two members of the 
group under consideration. The first of these is the African clawless 
otter ( L. capensis), from South and West Africa, which, while agreeing with the 
Indian clawless otter in the rudimentary condition of its claws, is distinguished 
by its greatly superior dimensions; being, next to the Brazilian otter, the largest 
representative of the whole group. Writing of this species, which he alludes to 
under another Latin name, the late Professor Moseley states that “ amongst the 
animals which live on the Cape Peninsula, the clawless otter is worthy of 
mention; it is a very large otter, twice or three times as large when full-grown as 
the European one. It lives about the salt-marshes and lakes, and is tolerably 
common; it hunts, like the South American marine otter, in companies, but only 
of three or four. It has no claws on the fore-feet, having lost them by natural 
selection in some way or other, and on the hinder-feet the claws are wanting on 
the outer toes, and only rudiments of them remain on the middle ones. There are, 
however, pits marking the places where the claws used to exist. The webbing 
between the toes is also in this otter rudimentary; the beast altogether is very 
heavily built, with the head very broad and powerful. It appears to be an otter 
bent on returning to land habits.” 
Spotted-Necked The spotted-necked otter ( L. maculicollis ) is one of the smaller 
It has a naked 
Otter. 
members of the group, with well-developed claws. 
Extinct Otters. 
nose, and very long hind-feet; the colour of the fur being 
blackish brown, with yellow spots on the throat, chest, and under¬ 
parts. This otter has been obtained from the Cape and Natal. 
"Reference has already been made to the occur¬ 
rence of the common otter in the superficial deposits 
of Europe, and also of an extinct species allied to the hairy-nosed 
otter in the Siwalik Hills of India. In addition to these, there 
are numerous extinct otters in the Pliocene and Miocene deposits 
of Europe, some of which appear to connect existing forms with 
the martens and their allies. Another is remarkable as appearing 
to indicate affinities between the otters and the civets, and thus 
serves to confirm the previously-mentioned evidence as to the 
existence of some relationship between the now widely divergent families of 
the weasels and civets. The otter-like animal in question is distinguished from 
VOL. ii.— 7 
THE LEFT UPPER 
FLESH - TOOTH OF 
AN EXTINCT INDIAN 
OTTER. 
The outer ridge 
(left side of figure) is 
broken. 
