THE MAMMALS OF NEW JERSEY. 77 
Family CASTORIDZ. 
BEAVERS. 
One species found in Europe and one in America the latter 
divisible into several races. 
Genus Castor Linnzus. 
Beaver. 
Castor canadensis carolinensis Rhoads. 
Southeastern Beaver. 
IPA 622) 
Length 44 inches. ‘Tail broad, flat and naked; second toe of 
the hind foot with two claws. Body thick and heavy, closely 
furred, dark bay or blackish brown, hairs tipped with chestnut, 
ears black, feet, legs and underparts seal brown. 
The beaver that originally occurred in New Jersey was the 
southern or Carolina Beaver somewhat lighter and larger than 
the Northern or Canadian form. It is now nearly extinct every- 
where, and according to the information collected by Mr. Rhoads, 
the last New Jersey specimens were killed about 1820. All that 
we have left of the native beaver are traces of dams in various 
streams of south Jersey. One very large one that I have vis- 
ited is located on Nescochaque branch of the Mullica river and 
is now a great stretch of grassy land interspersed with bogs. 
The original damming and flooding killed off the trees and they 
have never grown again. 
Beavers were in the habit of building large lodges somewhat 
like those of the muskrats, but unlike the muskrats they also 
constructed great dams which backed up the water and made the 
necessary lakes or ponds for the building of the lodges. In the 
construction of these dams great trees were cut down, gnawed 
through near the base by the tireless animals and cut up into 
lengths, the whole colony working at the undertaking. In August, 
