318 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



young ones in the house which they had huilt. The keeper in 

 charge thought that Beavers have two litters in the year. 



After inspecting some of their dams, Mr. Buckland wrote : — 

 "It is evident that they work with a design, I may even say with 

 a definite plan. The trees have been cut down in such a manner 

 that they shall fall in the position in which the Beaver thinks 

 they would be of the greatest service to the general structure, 

 generally right across the stream. The cunning fellows seem to 

 have found out that the lowest dam across the river would 

 receive the greatest pressure of water upon it. This dam there- 

 fore is made by far the strongest. They seemed to have packed, 

 repaired, and continually attended to the tender places which the 

 stream might make in their engineering work. A fact still more 

 curious — the custodian of the Beavers pointed out to us a portion 

 of the work where the dam was strutted up and supported by 

 the branches of trees extending from the bed of the stream below 

 to the sides of the dam, forming, in fact, as good supports to the 

 general structure as any engineer could have devised." 



When dissecting one of the Beavers that died Mr. Buckland 

 was much astonished at the small size of the gullet, which, he 

 says, was not large enough to admit the little finger. He observed 

 the same peculiarity in the oesophagus of the Otter. 



A young Otter, which he obtained at Cardigan, and which 

 lived some time in confinement, enabled him to make some 

 observations on its actions, which may be here transcribed : — 



" When the Otter is pursuing a fish it is interesting to observe 

 his manner of swimming. He does not use his fore and hind 

 legs, as does a horse or dog, but folds bis front paws alongside 

 his body while he strikes out vehemently with his two hind legs. 

 This causes his movement to be apparently by jerks, but the 

 jerks are so exceedingly rapid that the creature progresses in the 

 water with extreme velocity, almost as quick as a pike when he 

 darts at his prey. 



" The canine teeth are very trenchant, and almost scissor-like 

 in their action ; they are conical in shape, much sharper than 

 the canines of a dog or cat. 



" When a fish is caught the Otter immediately transfixes it 

 through the head with his sharp canines, the action of which is 

 such that the fish is held by them as in a rabbit-trap, and 

 cannot escape. The Otter holds the fish for some little time 



