THE EUROPEAN BEAVER 



and scaly ; and the legs are short. The hind toes are 

 webbed like a duck's ; the tail is of moderate length, 

 flattened like a trowel, and covered with scales. The 

 fur is thick and soft, and of a reddish or greyish 

 brown hue. 1 Anatomically, the European beaver 

 is distinguished from the American species (Castor 

 canadensis) by the narrowness of the anterior 

 portion of the skull and the backward prolongation of 

 the nasal bones ; the two forms are, however, very 

 closely allied, and many naturalists consider the 

 Transatlantic form to be merely a well-marked 

 variety of the beaver of Europe. 



To-day, the European species is, alas ! a vanishing 

 animal tending to extinction. Formerly it inhabited 

 the British Isles, France, Holland, Scandinavia, 

 Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Turkey, and Russia; 

 but in England, at least, it seems to have been 

 very rare even as early as the ninth century. 

 According to Pennant, the pass of Nant Fran^on 

 and a locality on the River Conway, a few miles 

 above Llanwrst, were probably former haunts of 

 these animals in Wales; while the names of Beverley, 

 Beverstone, Beaveredge, and Beaverbourne indicate 

 English localities where they once occurred. 2 Sir 

 Richard Owen has noted the discovery of a beaver 

 skeleton in the bed of the Old West Water, a 



1. The museum of Sir Ashton Lever contained white, cream-coloured, 

 or spotted beavers. 



2. Beaverbourne is the name of a small brook discharging into the 

 Severn about a mile north of Worcester, near Beaver Island ; higher up 

 the Severn is the flat green island of Bevereye. 



