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Show 1890.] MR. R. LYDEKKER ON A NEW FOSSIL OTTER. 3 Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell, F.Z.S., exhibited some living specimens of Bipalium, and made the following remarks :- " I was at first inclined to regard the Bipalium which Mr. Fisk sent to our Gardens 1 as distinct from B. kewense, Moseley, for the specimen I examined was smaller, proportionately thinner, much greener in hue, and without the well-marked longitudinal lines which have been described by Moseley and figured by myself. On examining, however, several specimens, I found that the worms varied a good deal in hue, and in the extent to which the stripes are obvious, and at last I found a small specimen which agreed exactly with my idea of what B. kewense ought to look like." The following papers were read :- 1. On a new Species of Otter from the Lower Pliocene of Eppelsheim. By R. L Y D E K K E R , B.A., F.Z.S. [Received November 15, 1889.] In cataloguing the fossil Mammals in the British Museum * I entered under the heading of Lutra dubia, Blainville, part of the right mandibular ramus of a rather large Otter, which is stated to have been obtained from the Lower Pliocene (Upper Miocene of some authorities) sands of Eppelsheim, in Hesse-Darmstadt. My reason for thus naming the specimen was that it appeared to correspond with Blainville's figure of the type of L. dubia from the Middle Miocene of Sansan. Mr. E. T. Newton has, however, been good enough to show m e a cast of the type specimen of the latter, which at once indicates that the Eppelsheim specimen belongs to a totally different form. The mandible of L. dubia is characterized by the very small size of the inner cusp of the blade of the lower carnassial, in which respect it approximates to Lutra (Potamo-therium) valetoni of the Lower Miocene. According to Dr. Schlosser3 this species is moreover closely allied to those Mustelines described by Meyer as Trochictis, which appear to connect Lutra with Mustela, and should not improbably be referred to the same genus. Now the lower carnassial of the Eppelsheim Otter (as is well shown in the accompanying drawing, see p. 5) is remarkable for the very large size of the inner cusp of the blade, and is thereby at once distinguished from L. dubia. Moreover, in going through the list of the Tertiary species of Otters given by Dr. Schlosser on pp. 345-349 of the volume cited, it is apparent that the specimen under consideration is specifically distinct from all the named species, with the possible exception of Lutra franconica, Quenstedt, and the lower jaw from Steinheim described by Dr. O. Fraas as L. valetoni, but which, 1 SeeP.Z.S. 1889, p. 586. 8 Cat. Foss. M a m m . Brit. Mus. pt. i. pp. 191, 192, No. 2748 b. 3 Beitr. Pal. Ouster.- Ung. vol. vii. p. 349. 1* |