the type I have figured under the name L. monticola. The skull of the first of
these is so closely allied to the skull of L. vulgaris that it is diffiouit to detecrt
the points wherein it differs from the skull of the European Otter. But, even m
external appearance, the Otter of this type is so alike to L. vulgaris that Blyth'
regarded an Otter from Algiers, which has the skull of the European Otter, as
With this Otter of India. Blyth, however, does not appear to have been
aware of the circumstance that the great majority of the Bengal Otters with
which he was dealing were distinguished hy skulls resembling the skull of the
European Otter, because all the skulls mentioned in his Catalogue of Mammals
were of. the form figured in this work (Plate XII, figs. 1 to 3), whereas only one
of his specimens had a skull resembling that figure ; the skulls of all the other
Otters he was dealing with, having, unknown to him, resembled the skull of the
European Otter, and being identical specifically with the skull of the Otter first
described by E. Cuvier as L. nair. ' S S
The only differences that can be detected between these skulls and the skull of
the European Otter are these : that the latter is slightly broader, across the external
meatus and between the tympanies on the base of the skull, that the zygomatic,
arch is more upwardly curved in its first portion, and that the teeth are smaller than
in the Nepal and Bengal skulls. The differences, however, that exist between these
skulls are almost equalled hy the differences that subsist between the skull of the,
Algerian Otter and the skulls of Otters from Europe.
The type of L. nair, E. Cuvier, is in the Paris Museum, and M. Alphonse
M.-Edwards obligingly had the skull removed from the skin for. my inspection, and
permitted me to have the accompanying faithful figure of it (Plate XI) executed for
this work. A comparison of this figure with that of the adult skull of the European
Otter (Blainville, Ostéog. vol. ii. fig. 8) will he suffident to convince the. observer,
that it is closely allied to that spedes, and it will he noticed that L. nrnr, like the
skull of L. vulgaris, has no post-orbital swelling. Mature, hut not old, skulls from
Bengal and the Himalaya have generally a lengthened post-orbital area, and in skulls
of L. vulgaris, of the same age, a similar lengthened interval occurs between the.
post-orbital process and the brain-case; and it is only in old animals that the
European Otter skull assumes the form depicted hy Blainville, in which the
post-orbital interval is very much reduced and concave; and only in similarly old
individuals that the skull of the Indian Otter takes on the characters of the.type
(Plate XI). I am indebted to Dr. Günther for the opportunity to examine the skull
of L. indica, Gray, which he had specially extracted from the type specimen to
assist me in these observations. After a careful consideration of the characters
of this skull, it appears to me to he specifically identical with the skull of L.
naì/r, E. Cut.
The general colour of the animal is umber-brown, but there is always a tendency
in the fur to a slight grizzling, as there is an area immediately below the tip of each
hair paler than the rest of the hair. This character appears to increase with age, so
that in the old the grizzling of the fur becomes intensified, and is further
1 Cat. Mamm. As. Soc. Mas. 1863, p. 72.
added to by the occurrence of nearly white hairs. The side of the muzzle, the area
below the eye and the ear, the side of the neck to the fore limb, and more or less
across it, the chin, throat, and under surface of the neck, and the sides and under
surface of the trunk and tail, are pale silvery grey. In adolescents, the outsides of the
fore limbs are concolorous with the upper parts, and the silvery grey is not so defined
on the sides and belly, hut it is markedly so on the sides of the face and along the
neck. The young animal is much paler brown than the adult, and in the adolescent
the colour of the upper part is darkest. The ears are moderately pointed, and in an
adult, stuffed male, measuring from the muzzle to the vent 27 inches, and the tail
15*75, the ear is 0*85 high, hy 0*80 broad.
The differences subsisting between the skulls of this-and the other large species
of Otter occasionally found in Bengal, suggest the likelihood that L. now is distinr
guished from it hy a very different physiognomy, having in all probability less breadth
across the frontal or post-orbital region and a longer muzzle. The extent, however,
of these differences, if they exist, can only be satisfactorily determined by the
observation of the two species in life.
L. navr is distributed over India from the Himalaya to Cape Comorin and to
Ceylon; an Otter with a skull resembling the skull of L. navr occurring in that
island up to 4,500 feet.1 I t is prevalent in Bengal and in Assam, hut it does not
appear to extend into Arracan and Burma, where its place would appear to he taken
hy another species with a different type of skull. I t is largely employed hy the
fishermen of the Jessore district and of the Sunderbunds to drive fish into their nets,
and it is frequently hunted in the neighbourhood of Calcutta hy native hoys who
go'in pursuit of it with small packs of pariah dogs, trained also to attack and kill
Felis vwerrma and Vvoerra zibetha.
The other large species of Otter occurring in Bengal is known to me by only one
specimen in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, which Blyth states was obtained in the
vicinity of the city, and in the British Museum there is a skull of. an Otter from
Behar identical with the skull of this specimen. The skeleton, as well as the stuffed
specimen, has heen preserved. This skull is specifically identical with the skull
which I have figured as L. monticola, and is markedly distinct from the skull of the
previously described Otter, in which there is a complete absence of the post-orbital
swelling which is so characteristic a feature of this skull, and than which it is also
much more depressed over the parietal region and with a muzzle of much less
depth; indeed, the two are distinguished from each other by the very leading differences
that would suggest themselves were this skull with the post-orbital swelling
compared with the skull of the European Otter. Before describing the peripheral
characters of this second species of Bengal, Himalayan, and probably Malayan Otter,
it may he well to mention that the specimen in question is No. 214 B of Blyth’s
Catalogue.2 Blyth noticed the difference of colour by which it is distinguished
from specimen A of his Catalogue, which belongs to the form allied to the European
Otter, hut the skull of which Blyth had not removed for examination. TTis explana-
1 Kelaart. Prod. Faun. Zeylan. 1861, p. 35. * L , c,, p. 72.
c 2