98 MAMMALIA ORDER V.RODENTIA. 



and Sudjesu there existed an animal like an otter, but which had a broad, 

 hairless tail." And there can be no reasonable doubt that these authors are 

 right in identifying this creature with the beaver. The possible eastward 

 extension of the beaver into Persia is suggested by Mr. Blanford. 



From the Caucasus the ranger of the beaver may be traced through Russia, 

 Poland, and Livonia, to Lapland, and thence to the Scandinavian Peninsula. 

 Immediately to the north of the Caucasus, Oken recorded their abundance 

 in the valley of the Tereck in 1842. In Central Russia there is no definite 

 evidence of their occurrence, but in the Baltic provinces of Livonia the 

 record is again ample. Many places in this district take, indeed, their 

 name from beavers, and about the middle of the last century these animals 

 appear to have had populous colonies on most of the streams of the country. 

 In 1724, so common were they, that their dams were a serious inconvenience 

 to the district, owing to the floods caused by them. It appears, however, 

 from the researches of Loewis, that beavers are now completely exterminated 

 from Livonia, the last specimen having been shot in 1841. In i 889 the exist- 

 ence of a few beavers in the river Svislotch, Government of Mink v and also 

 in the Dnieper, was recorded. In North Russia the rivers Dwina and 

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

 were the resorts of beavers as late as 1842, but it is probable that they 

 are now completely extinct. Passing eastward into Silesia, there is evidence 

 of the former wide distribution of these animals, it being stated that they 

 extended as far as Amur. In the basin of the Obi, in Western Siberia, they 

 appear to be extinct in the valley of the Irtsh, where they "were formerly 

 abundant ; but at least up to 1876 they continued to be found in the small 

 affluent of the Obi known as the Pelyin. Beavers have long since completely 

 -disappeared from the Yenesei, in Eastern Siberia, but information is still 

 required with regard to the more easterly valley of the Lena. In Poland 

 and Lithuania beavers may still linger on ; but, as already observed, there is 

 a want of evidence as to the limits of their original range in the region lying 

 eastward of a line connecting the Baltic with the Black Sea. Reverting to 

 the neighbourhood of the White Sea, and pursuing a course towards the 

 north-east, it appears that Lapland lost its beavers early in the present 

 century. The skull of the last specimen known to have been killed in 

 these regions was obtained about 1830. 



In Scandinavia, although beavers were widely distributed in the last and 

 early part of the present century, it appears that they have now totally dis- 

 appeared from Sweden but still exist in at least three remote spots in 

 Norway. The number of specimens living in the latter country in 1880 was 

 estimated at not more than 60 ; but Collett placed their number at about 

 100, and, as they were strictly preserved, he did nut consider that they were 

 decreasing. Completing this survey of the range of the European beaver 

 with Denmark, evidence of its former existence -is found in the shape 

 of skulls and bones from the mosses and turbaries, while it is also known 

 to have lived there within the historic period. As to the precise date of its 

 extermination, there appears no definite record. 



With regard to the range of the American beaver, few words will suffice. 

 It may be observed, in the first place, that, although some writers are indis- 

 posed to regard this beaver as specifically distinct from the European one ; 

 yet, from the constant difference in the form of the bones of the nasal region 

 of the skull, it seems to be a valid species, the proper name of which is Castor 

 canadensis. The earliest epoch of its occurrence is in the Pleistocene 



