198 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



The present colonies of Castor fiber vistulanus all lie in the river 

 basins of the Niemen, the Pripet, and the Dnieper, and perhaps also 

 the western Duna. A map shows the present distribution at 14 

 stations in the Niemen Basin and at 16 stations in the Pripet Basin. 

 The last records on the middle course of the Vistula were in 1850; 

 on the headwaters of the Vistula system, in 1861 ; on the headwaters 

 of the Bug, in 1861 ; on the headwaters of the Dniester, in 1851. The 

 largest colony in Volhynia in 1928 was estimated to contain 100 

 individuals. In 1928-29 the total number in Poland was estimated 

 at 235. The animals are now very strictly protected. (Kuntze, 1935, 

 pp. 65-68.) 



Russia. Various early records are summarized by Nehring (1890, 

 p. 105) as follows: Pallas (ca. 1770) reported that Cossack hunters 

 sought Beavers on the steppe rivers of the Samara region, where the 

 animals occurred very sparingly. According to Rytshkov, Beavers 

 still existed in 1760-70 in the Bashkiri region; according to Evers- 

 mann, about 1850 in the Perm Government; according to Kessler, 

 at the same period in many rivers of the Kiev and Poltava Govern- 

 ments; according to Krynitzki, about 1835 near Kherson on the 

 lower Dnieper. 



Trouessart (1910, p. 130) includes northern Russia and southern 

 Russia (Caucasus and rivers of the Caspian) in the range of the 

 species. Millais states (1905, p. 161) that "Beavers were found on 

 the Petchora and the Dwina in Russia until 1842, and possibly a few 

 may still exist in their unfrequented tributary stream-." 



Of Russian Beavers we know comparatively little. In 1884, 566 

 individuals were counted in the Rokitno Swamps. But by the time 

 of World War I this number had greatly decreased, despite protec- 

 tive measures instituted in 1911. It is doubtful if the colony set 

 out on the Voronesh in 1886 still exists. (Kruger, 1931, p. 53.) 



The species was formerly widely distributed in the forested areas 

 but is now almost exterminated and exists only in some reserves. 

 These are in the Ukraine (on the Rivers Teterev, Soge, and Desna, 

 on the tributaries of the Pripet, and in the former Government of 

 Chernigov) ; in the Western Area and in White Russia ; and on the 

 Usman in the former Government of Voronesh. In 1935 the total 

 number of Beavers in the U. S. S. R. (including Siberia) was esti- 

 mated at 2,500-3,000. (W. G. Heptner, in Hit., December, 1936.) 



Siberia. According to Eversmann (as reported by Nehring, 1890, 

 p. 105), Beavers still existed about 1850 in the Baraba Steppe 

 (between the Irtish and the Ob Rivers). "Gone from the Yenisei 

 and Irtish, where formerly they were common, they were reported 

 from the Pelyn, a tributary of the Obi, in Western Siberia, until 

 1876, and they may still exist there" (Millais, 1905, p. 161). Troues- 

 sart (1910, p. 130) includes Turkestan as well as Siberia in the 



