[page] 244

FEET OF OTTER HOUNDS.

SIR,—I should be very much obliged to any one who keeps otter hounds if he would have the kindness to examine the feet of two or three dogs, and compare them with respect to the membrane between the toes with some other dog of a named breed. It would be best to compare the feet with those of some other sort of hound. With some otter hounds the skin between the toes is certainly more largely developed than in the case of common dogs, and I am anxious to know whether this is the general rule. It should be stated to which part or joint of the toes the skin extends, and whether it is much hollowed out in the middle. I should be very grateful for information sent to me either by letter or through LAND AND WATER.

CHARLES DARWIN.

Down, Bromley, Kent.¹

¹ See Correspondence vol. 14, pp. 337-338. In Variation 1: 39-40, Darwin referred to a response to this query from Charles Otley Groom-Napier from Land and Water (13 October 1866), p. 270.