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which resembles that of a pug-dog. They are very shy, timid animals. On first 

 seeing a human being, they try to hide away, but on being aroused are savage 

 enough. . . They come out of their burrows about sundown to get their food, and 

 again at daylight in the morning." Mr. Allen proceeds to say that the food of this 

 sewellel is mainly composed of aquatic plants, especially the stems of a water-lily : 

 and he adds that the burrows of these animals are always on the lower part of a 

 hillside, and frequently have running water passing through them. Their feet are 

 eminently adapted for grasping, and it is stated that these creatures are in the 

 constant habit of ascending broken and small trees furnished with branches. 

 They are generally captured by means of traps set in the water. 



The Beavers. 

 Family Gastorw.e. 



From the large relative size of the animals themselves, coupled with their 

 extraordinary constructive and destructn e powers, an amount of interest invariably 

 attaches to beavers which is not vouchsafed to other members of the order to 

 which they belong. As is so frequently the case in analogous instances, the 

 constructive abilities and engineering capacities of these animals — marvellous 

 as they undoubtedly are — have, however, been greatly exaggerate.! j M popular 

 estimation: ami the creatures have been credited with performing tasks of which 

 they are utterly incapable. 



Beavers, of which there are two species or varieties, — one confined to Northern 

 and Eastern Europe and parts of Western and Northern Asia, and the other to 

 North America, — are the only existing representatives of the family to which they 

 belong, and constitute the genus Castor. The family is characterised by the 

 massive form of the skull, in which there are no postorbital processes defining the 

 hinder border of the eye-sockets, and the angle of the lower jaw is rounded ofi". 

 There is but one pair of premolars in each jaw ; and the cheek-teeth have no roots, 

 a perfectly flat grinding-surface, and re-entering folds of enamel. The two series 

 of cheek-teeth converge towards the front of the jaws, and the premolar in each 

 jaw is larger than either of the molars. 



As a genus, beavers are characterised by their stout and heavy bodily 

 conformation, this being most marked in the hinder quarters. The head is large 

 and rounded, with short ears; and the tail is of moderate length, much flattened, 

 and covered with a naked, scaly skin. The limbs are short, with five sharp-clawed 

 toes on both the fore and hind-feet 1 ; all the toes of the hind-feet being connected 

 by a web extending to the roots of the claws. The portion of the muzzle 

 surrounding the nostrils is naked, as are the soles of the feet, while the ears are 

 scaly. Both the ears and the nostrils are capable of being closed The fur is 

 peculiarly thick and soft, its general colour being reddish brown above, and greyer 

 beneath. There is, however, some amount of individual variation in this respect, 

 individuals from northern regions inclining to be darker in coloration than those 

 from the southern districts of the habitat of these animals. Occasionally pied or 



1 There is an additional claw on the second toe of the hind foot, probably employed in dressing the fur. 



