2 THE BEAVER 
and plucked the skins are very beautiful,and . . . . they 
almost equal sea otter in depth of fur and richness of color.” 
Speaking of the fur of the beaver of the Colorado River 
region, Arizona, Pattie says: “In accommodation to the 
climate, [it] is becoming short.” 
Albinos are occasionally found, though they appear to 
be very rare. MacFarlane thought he had seen perhaps 
ten during his long period of service with the Hudson’s 
Bay Company. Maximilian said that in 1833 yellowish 
white and pure white beavers were not infrequently caught 
in the Yellowstone. Martin, in ‘“Castorologia,” states 
that about 1872 nine pure white beaver skins were secured 
in one parcel in the neighborhood of Little Slave Lake. 
R. E. C. Stearns stated that he had seen at Olympia, Wash- 
ington, a pure white beaver, without the least trace of the 
usual color. It was taken at or near Goldsborough, 25 
miles from Olympia. He also mentioned another speci- 
men, not as pure a white. Both were mounted. 
The tail merits a somewhat detailed description. It is 
of an oval shape, rather thick in the middle and next the 
body, and thins out both laterally and longitudinally, and 
there is evidently little or no fleshy matter at the sides and 
end. Except at the junction with the body, it is covered 
with a hard, scaly skin, which is very dark, almost black. 
One examined by me, and which is figured here, was 12 
inches thick where it had been cut off, at the beginning of 
the scaly part, and was 32 inches wide at this place. It 
measured 6 by 102 inches. There were about eighty-five 
transverse rows of scales on this tail. There are a few short 
hairs projecting from between the scales on both sides, 
though perhaps more abundant on the upper. The part 
next the body is densely furred. The ratio of the width of 
the scaly portion to its length varies in different subspecies, 
and also among individuals of these groups. ‘The width is 
