THE EUROPEAN BEAVER. 



" Of all the rivers of Wales, this alone possesses beavers.'' 

 Giraldus Camlrrensis on the River Teivi, A.D. 1188. 



Many of the most useful tools manufactured by 

 man have long ago been anticipated in the animal 

 kingdom. The spade-like hand of the moles and 

 mole-rats; the teeth of the kangaroos, close-cropping 

 the grass with scissor action ; and the rake-like claws 

 of the antbear, are typical examples. The attenuated 

 finger of the aye aye lemur, used forceps-like to 

 extract grubs from tree - trunks, may also be 

 mentioned here ; as also the rough tongue of the lion, 

 employed in rasping meat from bones ; and the 

 conical snout of the armadillo, used as a drill in 

 boring for worms. Before the English file was 

 introduced amongst the Indians, these ingenious 

 people used to cut bone with the chisel-like tooth of 

 a beaver fixed in a handle ; thus, in the swarming 

 beaver population, they had a natural instrument 

 store, a backwoods repository always available. 

 Once the beaver was as abundant in Europe as in 

 America ; and the European form will be dealt with 

 in this Essay. 



The largest rodent of the Old World, the 

 European beaver (Castor fiber] measures about 30 

 inches in length (head and body) with a ten-inch tail. 

 The head is large and rounded ; the ears are small 



