NOTES ON BEAVERS. 



101 



The chief characteristics of this order are the incisor teeth in the 

 centre of each jaw, the absence of canine teeth, and the wide space 

 between the incisor and molar teeth, an arrangement admirably 

 qualifying them for gnawing solid substances, to which end the 

 incisors are enamelled only on the front sui'face, so that the back part 

 being softer is by gnawing worn away fastest, and the cutting edge 

 kept sharp. To remedy the loss of substance a constant growth takes 

 place from the root ; they are, moreover, semicircular in form, three- 

 fourths of which being buried in the jaw adds enonnously to their 

 power. The molar teeth are broad and calculated for masticating 

 vegetable food ; the articulation of the lower jaw works in a longi- 

 tudinal groove in the skull, affording gx-eat facilities for grinding their 

 food : the feet are furnished with toes and nails, and are more or less 

 webbed ; the fore paws are remarkably handlike, the hind legs much 

 the longest. 



I shall now confine my observations to the "species " Beaver, and 

 endeavour, first, to point out to you such of its life-history as I have 

 been able to gather from the many writers on the subject, following 

 these particulars with a description of what I witnessed on the occasion 

 of a special visit paid to the Marquis of Bute's beavery at Mount 

 Stuart, near Rothesay, in the island of Bute, at the latter end of 

 August, 1878. 



The earliest notice we have of the beaver occurs during the 9th 

 century, where we lind that whilst an otter's skin was only worth 

 twelve pence, that of the Llosdlydan or beaver was valued at one 

 hundred and twenty pence. 



This animal was not uncommon in the rivers of Wales towards the 

 close of the l'2th century. Giraldus Cambrensis informs us that the 

 species became extinct in 1188, but according to some historians it was 

 a native of Scotland and England until the 15th century. It has not 

 been found in Ireland or any trace of its existence recorded there. 



There are two living species of beavers, the one inhabiting Europe 

 and Asia (Castor Fiber) being still found in Siberia on the river 

 Pelyin, five having been captured there so recently as 1876 ; and a few 

 colonies exist on the banks of the Weser, Rhone, and Danube. Lord 

 Clermont in his " Guide to European Quadrupeds," published in 1859, 

 stated, " it is found in greatly reduced numbers on the Danube, Rhine, 

 and Rhone, on which last it intiicts considerable injury to the willow 

 plantations." It is rare in Russia, except on the Dwina and Petchora, 

 but numerous in Tartary and the Caucasus. 



The other variety (Cantor Canadensis) inhabits North America, 

 comprising m its range a district bounded on the south by California, 

 on the west and east by Vancouver's Island and Newfoundland, and 

 north by the limit of trees, some distance within the Arctic circle. 



Along with these two species lived in Pi-e-Glacial times a gigantic 

 beaver known to science as Cuvier's. It did not, however, survive the 

 Glacial period. The smaller and more recent species possibly with- 



