34 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. 



and lodges. M. Myerink, of Berlin, described, in 

 1829, the operations of a small number of European 

 beavers established on the River Nuthe, an affluent 

 of the Elbe, which consisted in the construction of 

 burrows and lodges, and of a small dike or dam 

 about a foot high.^ This last act was evidently re- 

 garded as noteworthy, if not exceptional. Instances 

 of this kind of work appear to be rare on the part 

 of the European beaver, while the American turns 

 the smaller streams, hy means of dams, into a series 

 of ponds, one above the other, for miles together. 

 The region around the Black Sea was famous for 

 beavers in the classical period, whence he was called 

 by Pliny the "Pontic beaver." In his brief account 

 of this animal, he describes his practice of cutting 

 down trees, but is silent upon the far more remark- 

 able performance of constructing dams for the pur- 

 pose of forming artificial ponds. No other Roman, 

 and no Greek author, as far as I am aware, makes 

 mention of this practice. If the European beaver 

 had been a dam-builder to any considerable extent, 

 the fact would not, probably, have escaped the notice 

 of this indefatigable investigator.^ It is surprising 



^ Bennett's Garden and Menagerie of the Zoological Society 

 Delineated. Quadrupeds, i. 158. 



^ Easdem partes sibi ipsi Pontici amputant fibri, periculo ur- 

 gente, ab hoc se peti gnari ; Castoreura id vocant medici ; alias 

 animal horrendi morsus, arbores juxta flumina, ut ferro, csedit ; ho- 

 mines parte coraprehensa, non antequara fracta concrepuerint 

 ossa, morsus resolvit, Cauda piscium iis, cetera species lutrse, 

 Utramque aquaticum ; Utrique Mollior pluma pilus. — Plin. Nat. 

 Hist., Lib. viii. c. xlvii. 



The ancients confounded the testes with the castor sacs, and 

 perpetuated as credible this conceit of self-amputation. Herodo- 



