3/3--3; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars,
4--4/3--3; molars, 1--1/2--2.

Jerdon states that the otter has a nictitating membrane or additional
semi-transparent eyelid, similar to that in the eyes of birds, which
he supposes is a defence to them under water; but I have not noticed
this myself, and have failed to discover it in the writings of others.
I should think that the vision of the animal under water would not
require obscuring by a semi-transparent membrane, which none of the
marine carnivora possess, though their eyes are somewhat formed for
seeing better under water than when exposed to the full light above.
Some idea of the rapidity of these animals in the water may be
conceived when we think that their food is almost exclusively fish,
of which they sometimes kill more than they can eat. They reside in
burrows, making the entrance under water, and working upwards,
making a small hole for the ventilation of their chamber. The female
has about four or five young ones at a time, after a period of
gestation of about nine weeks, and the mother very soon drives them
forth to shift for themselves in the water.

For a pretty picture of young otters at play in the water, nothing
could be better than the following description from Kingsley's
'Water Babies':--

"Suddenly Tom heard the strangest noise up the stream--cooing,
grunting, and whining, and squeaking, as if you had put into a bag
two stock-doves, nine mice, three guinea-pigs, and a blind puppy,
and left them there to settle themselves and make music. He looked
up the water, and there he saw a sight as strange as the noise: a
great ball rolling over and over down the stream, seeming one moment
of soft brown fur; and the next of shining glass, and yet it was not
a ball, for sometimes it broke up and streamed away in pieces, and
then it joined again; and all the while the noise came out of it louder
and louder. Tom asked the dragon-fly, what it could be: but of course
with his short sight he could not even see it, though it was not ten
yards away. So he took the neatest little header into the water, and
started off to see for himself; and when he came near, the ball turned
out to be four or five beautiful creatures, many times larger than
Tom, who were swimming about, and rolling, and diving, and twisting,
and wrestling, and cuddling, and kissing, and biting, and scratching,
in the most charming fashion that ever was seen. And if you don't
believe me you may go to the