other Otters. Specimens have been seen swimming fifteen miles from land. The gait of the creature when on land is suggestive of a marine animal; the webbed hind-feet are doubled back upon the knuckles during progression upon land, and locomotion is effected by a series of short springs from these feet; the Otter does not walk "in ordinary acceptance of the term." The tail is flattened, being twice as broad as it is thick, and ends in a bluntish point. Enhydris feeds mainly upon crabs and sea-urchins, but also upon fish. Its dental formula is peculiar by reason chiefly of the reduction of the lower incisors. The formula runs as follows: I 3/2 C 1/1 Pm 3/3 M 1/2.
The molar teeth of this creature, in accordance with its diet, have lost the sharp points of the Mustelidae in general; the crowns are flattened, and the tubercles very blunt. In this it contrasts with Lutra, and presents some resemblance to the Crab-eating Raccoon, Procyon cancrivorus; but the teeth are still further blunted. Enhydris feeds largely upon sea-urchins and shell-fish, and needs blunt teeth for the crushing of the hard shells of its prey. It is interesting to notice that the habits of this animal have been altered by the interference of man. The creature has been hotly pursued for a long time on account of its valuable fur. Instead of feeding and breeding upon the shore in places readily accessible to its pursuers, the Sea-Otter has now taken to the open sea in a greater degree. It utilises masses of floating seaweed for those purposes, and hunts for its food in the deeper water at a greater distance from the shore. In conjunction with the increasing rarity of the Sea-Otter the price of its skin has enormously increased: whereas in 1888 the average price per skin was £21:10s., the value of a fine skin now is at least £100, and as much as £200 and even £250 has been given. The animal is captured by netting and by clubbing and spearing.[1] From the Miocene Siwalik beds remains of an allied form, Enhydridon, have been obtained, whose teeth are somewhat intermediate in their crowns between Lutra and Enhydris.
Lutra, including the Otters, is widely distributed. Both manus and pes are webbed. The ears are small and hairy. The nose is not grooved, and the naked part is very circumscribed;
- ↑ See an article by Mr. Lydekker in Knowledge, April 1898, from which many of the above facts have been taken.
