198 CASTORID A. 
1424, c. 22., “Of the custome of furringes,” he says :— 
‘‘mertricks (martens,) fowmartes (polecats,) otters and 
tods (foxes) are specified, but not a word is said of 
Beavers, although these, had they existed, must have been 
most valuable of all, not only for their furs, but for the 
substance called castor, found in the inguinal (preputial) 
glands of the animal, which, in those days still retained 
some share of its ancient repute as a medicine.” The 
Beaver might, however, have become so scarce at the be- 
ginning of the 15th century, as to be not worth the atten- 
tion of the legislature. At an earlier period, towards the 
end of the 12th century, Giraldus de Barri, in his ‘ Itinera- 
rium Cambri,’ lib. ii. cap. 3, speaking of the river Teivi in 
Cardiganshire, says, ‘‘ Inter universos Cambriz seu etiam 
Llegrie fluvios, solus hie castores habet ;” and adds, ‘ In 
Albania quippe, ut fertur, fluvio similiter unico habentur 
sed rari.” From which it would appear that the Beaver still 
existed in Scotland, but had then become a scarce animal. 
Hector Boethius, however, enumerates the Beavers, 
‘fibri, among the animals which abounded in and about 
Loch Ness, and whose furs were in request for exportation 
towards the end of the 15th century, when he published 
his Description and History of Scotland. 
Dr. Walker, Professor of Natural History in the Uni- 
versity of Edinburgh, in his ‘ Mammalia Scotica,’* states, 
on the authority of Giraldus, that Beavers formerly existed 
in the country; and Mr. Neill adds, that Dr. Walker in 
his lectures used to mention that the Scotch Highlanders 
still retain, by tradition, a peculiar Gaelic name for the 
animal; this name, he was informed by Dr. Stuart of Luss, 
is Losleathan, derived from Jos, the tail, poit, or end of a 
* Posthumous Essays on Natural History, &c., 8yo. Edited by Mr. Charles 
Stewart. 
