192 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



The former range of the Old World Beaver included the forested 

 regions of Europe and northern Asia. The original colonies are now 

 extinct in all save a few localities in France, Germany, Norway, 

 Poland, Russia, and Siberia. In recent times the animal has been 

 reintroduced into England, Sweden, and Latvia. 



The general form is heavy and thickset; eyes and ears small; 

 hind feet large, broad, and webbed, the claw of the fourth digit 

 with a horny, compressed supplement; tail scaly, mostly naked, 

 broad, depressed ; general color a peculiar and very uniform clayey 

 buff, the under parts a little more yellowish. Head and body (fe- 

 male) , 820 mm. ; tail, 380 mm. (Miller, 1912, pp. 948-952.) Weight, 

 15 to 25 or even 36 kilograms (Didier and Rode, 1935, p. 188). 



Great Britain. In Wales, in A. D. 940, Beaver hides were req- 

 uisitioned for making the borders of the king's garments; it was 

 evidently then a rare animal. In 1188 it was still found on at least 

 one river in Wales and on a single river in Scotland, though it had 

 apparently died out quite generally in other parts of Great Britain. 

 "The written records we have of its occurrence are very frag- 

 mentary, and not wholly satisfactory." Remains have been exhumed 

 in both England and Scotland. Various place names in England 

 indicate the former occurrence of Beavers there. (Harting, 1880, 

 pp. 33-46.) 



Their skins were exported from England and Scotland until the 

 middle of the twelfth century. Beavers x were reintroduced on the 

 island of Bute, Scotland, in 1874, but died out about 1890. There 

 were similar introductions in Suffolk, England, in 1870, and in Sussex 

 at some time prior to 1905. (Millais, 1905, pp. 162-163.) 



In 1663 a good Beaver hat in England cost 85 RM. in German 

 currency (Kriiger, 1931, p. 54). 



Spain. Strabo, writing of this country in the first century B. C., 

 is said to mention the Beaver as a well-known animal (Blasius, 1857, 

 p. 407; Kriiger, 1931, p. 52). 



France. The Beaver was once widely distributed in France, 

 being found on many watercourses in various basins. It gradually 

 became rare, but in the sixteenth century was still found on many 

 rivers, principally the Oise, the Somme, and the Marne. Today it 

 is found only on the Rhone and its tributaries, below Valence. The 

 principal habitats are: (1) the mouth of the Ardeche; (2) the 

 mouths of certain small watercourses the Ceze, the Tave, and the 

 Aigues; (3) the vicinity of Roquemaure and the lie de Miemas; 

 (4) the vicinity of Avignon and the lie de Barthelane; (5) along the 

 course of the Garden; (6) between Tarascon and Beaucaire; (7) on 



i According to Kriiger (1931, p. 53), Scottish importations at this period were 

 of Canadian Beavers. 



