I2;o THE RODENTS 



Magdeburg in 1829, while at Wittenberg and Kahnert these animals were abund- 

 ant in 1801, while no less than eight individuals were observed in the latter locality 

 so late as 1878. In Bohemia, the valley of the Moldau, forming the upper part of 

 the Elbe basin, abounded in beavers up to the year 1848, although this was largely 

 owing to strict protection. On the Upper Danube and its tributaries there were 

 numerous colonies in the first half of this century, one of the most noted being on 

 the small river Amper, to the north of Munich, which was in a flourishing condition 

 between the years 1837 and 1846. Beavers also existed on the Lower Danube in 

 Austria, Hungary, and Turkey, and they have been recorded from the Upper 

 Euphrates valley and the Caucasus. On the Lower Danube a colony is preserved by 

 the Emperor of Austria. 



From the Caucasus, the range of the beaver extended through Russia, Poland, 

 and Livonia, to Lapland and Scandinavia. Beavers were abundant in the Tereck 

 valley to the north of the Caucasus in 1842, and in Livonia they were so common 

 in 1724, that their dams were a serious inconvenience to the district. The last 

 Livonian beaver was, however, killed in 1841, but a few were still living in the 

 Dnieper and the Svislotch (Government of Minsk) in 1889. The Russian rivers 

 Dwina and Petchora, respectively flowing into the White Sea and Arctic Ocean, were 

 inhabited by beavers till 1842. Through Silesia it is believed that these animals 

 extended as far east as Amurland; but in the valley of the Obi they are now extinct 

 in the Irtish, although still lingering in the Pelyin; and they have quite disappeared 

 from the Yenisei in Eastern Silesia. In Poland and Lithuania a few may still sur- 

 vive; but the last Lapland beaver was killed about 1830. In Scandinavia three 

 considerable colonies still exist near Arendal in Norway, the number of individuals 

 living in 1883 being about one hundred; these colonies are strictly preserved. In 

 Denmark we only know of the existence of the beaver by the evidence of its remains 

 buried in the peat mosses. It may be added that in 1 874 the Marquis of Bute intro- 

 duced beavers into the island from which he takes his title, where they have since 

 thriven. 



At the time of the discovery of America, the beaver had a wider 

 Distribution of ,. , ., ,. ,, - , ... . ,, 



th A ' distribution than any other Mammal except the puma. Its range 



can Beaver extended from Alaska and the Hudson's Bay district in the north, 

 along the Atlantic seaboard as far south as Georgia and Northern 

 Florida, and thence along the Gulf of Mexico as far as the Rio Grande in Texas, 

 and also some distance into Mexico; while on the Pacific coast it extended to 

 California and Arizona. The desert and the prairie districts of the interior, as 

 being unsuitable to its habits, were, however, of course, not tenanted by the beaver, 

 which was necessarily confined to the valleys of the great rivers and lakes. Writing 

 in 1877, Mr. C. A. Allen observes that " its present range, however, is much more re- 

 stricted, very few being found east of the Mississippi river south of the Great Lakes, 

 and it is everywhere less numerous than formerly. Some still remain in Northern 

 Maine and in the Adirondack region of New York, and probably some still survive 

 thence southward in the sparsely-settled districts to Alabama and Mississippi. A re- 

 cent article states that they are still abundant in portions of Virginia. Their existence 

 is in great abundance throughout the Atlantic States, and thence westward to the 



