FAMILY CASTORIDiE. 
73 
Description. Body thick and clumsy, enlarging gradually from the head backwards. Head 
broad and conical, flattened above. Nose large and obtuse, divided, furnished with strong 
whiskers. Eyes small and black. Ears short, rounded, and almost concealed in the fur. 
Neck short and thick. Fore feet small and short, with separate toes; the five claws stout 
and compressed, the central one longest, the outer and inner shortest. Hind feet with elon¬ 
gated soles; the toes connected throughout their whole length by a stout membrane. Tail 
broad, flattened, rather pointed at the end, and (except at its origin, where it is furnished for 
some distance with short hair,) it is covered with sub-hexagonal scales, not imbricated, with a 
few scattering hairs in the interstices. Incisors very robust, smooth, flat and yellowish in front, 
rounded and white behind. Molars above directed backward and outward ; of the lower jaw, 
forward and inward. The surfaces of the molars represent elliptical and irregular figures, 
caused by the foldings of the enamel; they are almost impossible to describe except by 
figures, and must change with age and continued trituration. The fur consists of two sorts ; 
one composed of long, stiff and elastic hairs, the other of a fine soft down. Glandular sacs 
containing castoreum, or a strong musky grease or unctuous substance, near the anus. 
Color. The long and coarse hair chesnut brown ; the downy fur beneath, light plumbeous 
or silver grey. There are occasional varieties, entirely black, or wholly black or mottled. 
Length of head and body,. 24 • 0 - 36 • 0. 
Ditto of tail,.. 8'0-12 - 0. 
The Beaver, whose skins once formed so important an article of commerce to this State, 
as to have been incorporated in the armorial bearings of the old Colony, is now nearly extir¬ 
pated within its limits. The skins of this animal even constituted a certain standard of 
value, and were a portion of the circulating medium. Thus, in 1697, we find that Governor 
Fletcher made a certain grant of a tract of land on the Mohawk, and the consideration named 
in the deed was one beaver skin for the first year, and five annually forever after. According 
to a letter from the Dutch West India Company, preserved in the Albany Records, we learn, 
that in 1624, 400 beaver and 700 otter skins were exported; the number increased in 1635, 
to 14,891 beaver and 1,413 otter skins; and the whole number in the ten years was 80,183 
beavers and 7,347 otters, amounting in value to 725,117 guilders. In the same letter, the 
directors complain that beavers have become exceedingly scarce ; having been sold at seven 
guilders a piece, and even more. One of the earliest legislative enactments by the rulers of 
the Colony, was in reference to the peltry trade; and I notice in the same records alluded to 
above, that William De Kay, the ancestor of the writer, was appointed receiver of the duties 
on beaver and bear skins. 
I am informed by Mr. T. O. Fowler, that in 1815, a party of St. Regis Indians from Canada 
ascended the Oswegatchie river in the county of St. Lawrence, in pursuit of beaver. In con¬ 
sequence of the previous hostilities between this country and England, this district had not 
been hunted for some years, and the beaver had consequently been undisturbed. The party, 
after an absence of a few weeks, returned with three hundred beaver skins. These were 
seen by my informant, who adds that since that time very few have been observed. 
Fauna. 10 
