176 CASTOROLOGIA. 



Few authorities agree in their descriptions of the beaver's won- 

 derful tail. In Bennett's " The Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoo- 

 logical Society Delineated," (1834), an extended article on the bea- 

 ver appeared, in the course of which its anatomy was carefully 

 treated. The whole of this article was reprinted by Mr. Lewis 

 Morgan in his work on ' ' The American Beaver ' ' but the portions 

 of greatest value are Mr. Bennett's personal observations, among 

 which are the following remarks : — 



' ' Among the numerous, widely dispersed and prolific tribes of 

 animals which compose the extremely natural order called by Lin- 

 naeus and the writers of his school ' Glires, ' there are none perhaps 

 which possess so many claims on our attention as the well marked 

 and circumscribed little group on the history of which we are about 

 to enter. The first and most essential character of the order is ob- 

 viously derived from the great development of their incisor teeth ; 

 and this peculiarity in structure as might naturally be expected is 

 connected with a peculiarity in habits equally remarkable. So strik- 

 ing, indeed, is the propensity to gnawing which distinguishes these 

 animals that many late zoologists of the French school especially, 

 have thrown aside the older designation applied to them by Linnaeus, 

 and adopted in its place the expressive name of ' Rongeurs or 

 Rodentia.' 



' ' Of this faculty the beavers appear to exhibit the highest degree 

 of development ; their powerful incisor teeth contribute, in an es- 

 pecial manner to supply them both with food and shelter. 



' ' The beavers may be regarded as almost typical of the order to 

 which they belong. They exhibit, however, in their external form 

 several striking modifications peculiar to themselves. Of these the 

 most remarkable consists in their tail, which differs in structure from 

 that of every other quadruped. This organ which is nearly half as 

 long as the body, is broadly dilated, oval, flattened both above and 

 below, covered at its thickened base alone with hair similar to that 

 which invests the rest of the animal, but overlaid throughout the 

 greater part of this extent with a peculiar incrustation which as- 



