282 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
California, and Nevada they are still numerous, as they are also 
in Upper Michigan, on the southern shore of Lake Superior.* 
Having glanced thus hastily at the past and present distri- 
bution of the Beaver in the Old and New Worlds, we may 
consider briefly the principal causes which in so many countries 
have led to its extermination. 
In ancient as in modern times the Beaver was sought after 
for the same purposes, namely, for dress, food, and medicine. 
From very early times its skin was considered a royal fur, 
and its acquisition when opportunity occurred, as in the case of 
the Marten and Ermine, was a prerogative of the Crown. We 
have seen how the Welsh Code of Howel Dha (a.p. 900) fixed a 
value upon the skins of 120 pence. Similarly the Leges Burgorum 
of David I. of Scotland (a.p. 1150) fixed the export duty upon the 
skins of Beavers along with those of Fox, Marten, and Wild Cat. 
This Scottish Code is copied nearly verbatim from the laws 
and customs instituted for Newcastle-on-Tyne by Henry I., and 
confirmed by subsequent royal charters ; and among the exports 
from the Tyne are specified the skins of Foxes, Martens, Sables 
[i. e., probably Polecats], Beavers, Goats, and Squirrels.¢ Thus 
it appears that the Beaver was known in Wales in the 10th 
century, and its skins were exported both from Scotland and 
England at least till the middle of the 12th century.} 
When the indigenous British Beaver became extinct, and 
native skins could no longer be obtained, the fur, used for 
trimming and lining cloaks, had to be imported; but it was not 
until some time after the discovery of America that Beaver-wool 
became the indispensable material for the fashionable Kuropean 
hat. In 1688 Charles I. by royal proclamation prohibited the 
use of any materials except Beaver-wool in the manufacture of 
hats, unless made for exportation. This amounted to a declara- 
tion of war against the Beaver colonies in the North American 
settlements and Hudson’s Bay Company’s territories, and within 
** Morgan, ‘The American Beaver and his Works,’ 1868, pp. 32, 33. 
+ ‘Archeol. Inst. Newcastle; Memoirs of Northumberland,’ vol. 1., p. 27. 
t In an Act of the first Parliament of James I. of Scotland, held at Perth 
in 1424, regulating the “custome of Mertrik skinnes and uther furringes,” 
the Marten, Polecat, Fox, Otter, and other skins have their export duties 
specified; but the Beaver, which figured among Scotch exports in the reign 
of David I., no longer appears. 
Be 
