THE BEAVER IN WESTERN EUROPE 31 



Natural History Museum of Mimes, the beaver 

 still exists in some numbers in the Rhone ; but 

 M. Mingaud calls for more adequate protection 

 lest it be exterminated from this ' its last haunt 

 in France and one of the last in Europe.' The 

 present status in other European countries is 

 also touched on ; and from the authoritative 

 testimony quoted in this paper we find that as 

 regards Russia the beaver exists to-day in the 

 governments of Minsk, Moghilev and Volhynia, 

 and is in less danger of persecution to extinc- 

 tion owing to the great fall in the price of 

 ' castoreum ' a product no longer valued in 

 medical practice ; the status of the animal in 

 Norway is likewise dealt with. 



Beavers still exist in the Elbe in spite of 

 Blasius' fears in 1857 that they were even then 

 in danger of extinction. In some places indeed, 

 as in Prussian state forests, they are protected. 

 In a letter on this subject to The Field?- Mr. 

 Henry Scherren quotes Dr. Martens of Magde- 

 burg as estimating the number of beavers in 

 the Elbe and its tributaries, the Mulde, Saale, 

 Nuthe and Ehle, in 1904 as somewhere between 

 150 and 200. As regards Norway a note to 

 The Field? signed ' G. L.,' states that the 

 beavers are said to be on the increase in South- 



1 December, 1908. 2 December, 1908. 



