FAUNA AMERICANA. 123 



Le castor^ ou Le bievre^ Briss. regn. anim. p. 133. 

 Le castor^ Buff. hist. nat. t. 8. pi. 36. F. Cuvier, 

 Mamm. Lithogr. (Encycl. pi. 79. fig. 1. and 2.) 

 Sabine, append, p. 659. Long's exped. vol. 1. p. 

 46. Common beaver. 



Char. Essent. Fur consisting of two sorts of 

 hair ; one coarse and brownish ; the other a very 

 fine down, more or less gray. 



Dimensions. Total length, two feet six lines ; 

 of the head, five inches ; of the tail, one foot ; 

 breadth of the tail, four inches; height before, 

 ten inches four lines ; behind, eleven inches ; 

 length of the fore arm, four inches; from the 

 wrist to the end of the nails, two inches four 

 lines. Some individuals attain to three feet in 

 length. 



Description. Snout short and thick, furnished 

 with strong whiskers; facial line rather arched; 

 summit of the head flattened ; eyes rather small, 

 of a blackish colour ; ears short and rounded ; 

 neck short ; body rather thick and short, particu- 

 larly at its posterior part. 



Back arched; tail very flat, broad, oval, and 

 naked, the skin of which is covered with scales, 

 generally of an hexagonal form, thicker beneath 

 than above. The fine soft hair is of a silver-gray 

 colour, offering some differences of shades ; the 

 coarser hair, long, stiff, and elastic ; gray for the 

 first two-thirds of its length, and terminated by a 



