200 CASTORIDJB. 



seems to forget the object of his mission, makes a long 

 digression on the natural history of the Beaver, and en- 

 larges with evident satisfaction on the habits of that singu- 

 lar animal." " He mentions that in the course of time the 

 habitations of the Beavers assume the appearance of a 

 grove of willow-trees, rude and natural without, but art- 

 fully constructed within ; that the Beaver has four teeth, 

 two above, and two below, which cut like a carpenter's 

 axe ; and that it has a broad short tail, thick like the palm 

 of the hand, which it uses as a rudder in swimming.' 1 ' 1 

 The passage in which Giraldus states that, in his day, 

 the Beaver continued to exist in the river Teivi alone, 

 of all the rivers of Wales, has been already cited. 



Pennant says that " Two or three waters in the Prin- 

 cipality still bear the name of Llyti yr afange^ or the 

 Beaver Lake." 



Tradition refers the name and arms of the town of Be- 

 verley in Yorkshire, to the fact of Beavers having abounded 

 in the neighbouring river Hull. 



Fig. 75. 



Lower jaw of Beaver, Nat. size. Peat Moss, Newbury. 



