THE NUTRIA
. [To the Editor of the SpEcTAron.j Sin,—May I point out an error which has crept into Sir William Beach Thomas's article in your issue of December 16th ? ft is stated that the nutria, at whose increase in England some apprehension is expressed, is of the otter family. This is not so. It is a porcupine-like rodent, belonging to the family Octodonlidae, in external form resembling a very large rat, and has generally been known as the coypu. Possibly your contributor has been misled by the fact that the name nutria, by which the animal is known in its native South America, is Spanish for otter ; the fur trade also knows it by this rather unfortunate misnomer. W. H. Hudson says that in Argentina in his time an Act was passed forbidding trappers to kill them owing to their increasing scarcity. Then " they increased and multiplied exceedingly, and, abandoning their aquatic habits, became terrestrial and migratory, and swarmed everywhere in search of food. Suddenly a mysterious malady fell on them, from which they quickly perished and became almost extinct."—I am, Sir, &c., R. L. WITTING.
The Gables, West Horsley, Surrey.
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