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Show 198 MR. O. THOMAS ON THE [Apr- 2> where its range meets that of the larger Brazilian Otter1. Thence northward it is exceedingly common along the coasts of Patagonia and Chili, where the complex labyrinths of gulfs and channels are highly favourable to its manner of life. It has been found in Peru, and in Ecuador it has been recorded from San Lorenzo. In addition, it has been stated to occur in Central America, in California, and Kamtschatka. The Central-American locality has already been disposed of. That of Kamtschatka rests on two skins, now in the British Museum, received from the French dealer Verreaux in 1856, and certainly belonging to L. felina ; their evidence, however, would no doubt have long ago been rejected, had it not been partially confirmed by Dr. Gray's description of a " L. californica," afterwards, and rightly, attributed to this specirs. The type of L. californica was obtained and presented to the Museum by Capt. P. P. King; but not only has the locality never been confirmed, a most significant fact in so well-known a country, but there is also no mention of California in that officer's account of his surveying-voyage. His other specimens all came from Patagonia, and I suspect that " California " was copied by mistake for " Patagonia," a word not unlike it in manuscript. My conclusion, therefore, is that in all probability the type of " i . californica " really came from Patagonia ; that the locality of Verreaux's " Kamtschatkan " specimens is erroneous ; that Pallas's "Viverra aterrima"2 is not this species, as has been suggested ; and as a result of these conclusions, that L. felina-does not really range northwards beyond Ecuador. The following is its synonymy :- LUTRA FELINA. Mustela felina, Mol. Sagg. Storia Nat. Chili, p. 342 (1782). Mustela (Lutra) chilensis, Kerr, Linn. An. K. i. p. 172 (1792). Lutra felina, Shaw, Gen. Zool. i. pt. ii. p. 448 (1800) (and of Gray and other authors referring to Peruvian, Chilian, and Magellan Otters, but not of Coues, Alston, and others describing Central-American specimens). Lutra chilensis, Benn. P. Z.S. 1832, p. 1. Lutra californica, Gray, Charlesw. Mag. N. H . i. p. 580 (1837). Lutra peruviensis, Gerv. Voy. Bonite, i. p. 15, Atl. pi. iii. figs. 4 & 5 (skull) (1841). Lutra brt<chydactyla,}Vagx). Schr. Sam?. Supp. ii. p. 261 (1842). Nutria felina, Gray, P. Z. S. 1865, p^ 128; Cat. Carn. B. M. p. 106 (1869). Turning now to the smaller Otters of Brazil, larger, indeed, than L. felina, but markedly smaller than L. brasiliensis, we are confronted with a problem that I am as yet unable to elucidate. The characters of the nose-pad and the proportions of the skull and teeth appear 1 One of the Otter-skins obtained by Dr. Coppinger in the Straits of Magellan during the voyage of the ' Alert,' and referred by m e to L. felina (P. Z. S. 1881, p. 3), proves, on an examination of its skull, to be really of the same type as " L. jMranensisr The other specimens mentioned are all really L. felina. 2 Zoogr. Ross.-Asiat. i. p. 81 (1811). |
