OCR Text |
Show 66 DR. J. E. GRAY ON PTERONURA SANDBACHII. [Jail. 23, the hinder or tubercular grinder moderate, with a nearly circular crown. PTERONURA SANDBACHII. (Pl. VII.) Fur bright bay brown above and below; hairs all nearly of a uniform brown colour ; lips and a large irregular patch on the throat and some spots on the side of the throat bright yellow. Pteronura sandbachii, Gray, Loudon's Mag. N. H. i. 580, 1837 Ann. & Mag. N. H. ii. 285, t. 14, 1839. Pterura sandbachii, Wiegmann's Arch. iv. 392, 1838 (published 1839). Hab. Demerara (Mus. Roy. Lnstitution, Liverpool). Young. Length of adult female (a tanned skin in the possession of Mr. Bartlett), body and head 43, tail 24, = 67 inches. Throat with two bright yellow streaks and some yellow spots. Var. kappleri. B.M. Bright golden brown above and below; hairs brown, with numerous white hairs intermixed; lips, chin, and an elongated streak on each side of the throat, which is dilated behind, and one branch of it extended up to the side of the chest, white. Young duller, greyer; lips and throat spotted, white. Lutra brasiliensis, Krauss, Mus. Stutgardt. Hab. Surinam (Kappler). The white hairs are better seen when the fur is examined by a hand magnifier. Skull of adult:-Length 6, of brain-case from the back edge of the orbit 4g, of the zygoma and orbit 3^ inches ; width at the zygomatic arch 3|, at the back of ear-opening 3g inches ; height of skull and lower jaw 2-f inches. The skull of the young specimen chiefly differs from that of the adult in the space between the orbits and masseter muscles being thicker, and in the supraorbital process before the upper hinder edge of the orbit not being developed. These are the usual characters of the skulls in young animals. The complete hairiness of the nose at once shows that it is not Lutra brasiliensis, as Dr. Krauss named it, which is the type of the genus Lontra. It is probable that there is another species of this genus, which has been described under the name of Lutra solitaria, Natterer. It was obtained by that enterprising traveller and collector at Ypa-nema, in Brazil, and is described as " chestnut-brown, and dirty white beneath." |