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Show 1881.] MR. A. H. COCKS ON THE BREEDING OF THE OTTER. 249 8. Note on the Breeding of the Otter. By ALFRED H E N E A G E COCKS, F.Z.S. [Received January 17, 1881.] A pair of Otters in my possession have lately bred ; and as the details differ somewhat from those in the case of the breeding of this species in the gardens of this Society, as recorded in the ' Proceedings' for 1847, I venture to give the following particulars. The female was sent to me in March 1873, from North Wales, as a cub of about 2f lb. weight, with the permanent incisor teeth just cut. From about the time she was full-grown she came in season nearly every month ; but I never possessed an adult male until October 1879, when I obtained one in Hamburg. Owing to the female animal's extreme jealousy, I was not able to let them run together until they had been duly introduced to each other through the bars of adjoining cages for some weeks. The male soon afterwards became very ill with an abscess at the root of one of his lower prsemolar teeth, the result apparently of some old injury ; and although the female occasionally came in season, he took no notice of her advances, until early on the morning of July 17th, when they paired in the water, the female loudly chattering or whistling in a peculiar way all the while. They remained thus for about an hour ; and the sides of the tank being perpendicular, they were of necessity swimming the whole time. Nothing further was noticed until the morning of August 12, when they again paired in the water. They remained together on this occasion for an hour and a half (about 6.30 to 8. A.M.). On October 2, the female being evidently heavy with young, I separated the animals ; and (about 5.45) in the afternoon of the 12th I heard young ones squeaking; in all probability they had not been born more than an hour or two when I discovered them. Reckoning from August 12th (the date of the second pairing), the gestation was therefore 61 days. W e constantly heard the cubs squealing; but nothing was seen of them until the 25th, when I looked at them, and found them to be two in number, measuring about 8 inches in length, including the tails, which were about 2 inches, or perhaps rather more, in length, and which were held curved tight round on the abdomen, as in a foetus. They were completely covered with a fine silky coat, very different from the somewhat rough "puppy-coat" they afterwards assume. They were still blind, with the eyes very prominent. Within two hours after I had looked at them the mother removed them to the other bed-box. From this time they were frequently shifted by the mother from one box to the other, often daily, the longest stay in one box being from October 28th to November 15th. On November 17, while I was in the act of putting clean straw into the unoccupied bed-box, the Otter came out of the other box with one of the cubs in her mouth, and, swimming with it across the tank, came right up to the box I was filling, as if totally unconscious of mv P R O C ZOOL. Soc-1881, No. XVII. 17 |