EARLY NOTICES OF THE BEAVER. 381 



and Salzach, tributaries of that river ; as -well as in the Elbe and Oder ; vhile in 

 other rivers it has only recently disappeared. In Noway, Sweden, and Poland, he 

 reports them as in greater numbers, and as distributed over Russia. Schmarda 

 mentions them as occurring in Transylvania ; and Oken says they exist in the 

 Traun in Austria, besides specifying for North Russia, the Dwina and Petschora. 

 Blasius reports that a specimen was taken in Brunswick, in the Schunter, at the 

 close of last century ; but that a few years ago they were observed in the Lippe in 

 Westphalia ; and that they are still found on the Elbe, between Megdeburg and 

 Wittenburg, though the colonies, since 1848, have been greatly reduced. He adds, 

 that they have been recently observed in the Havel and Oder in the Altmark, in 

 the Vistula, within East Prussia, and in Silesia ; and more abundantly, in Lithuania 

 and Poland, and in North Russia. In North-Western Germany it was found, at 

 least formerly, in the Moselle and the Maas. Chenu mentions it as tolerably 

 abundant in the southern pai't of the Rhone. They have been killed near Aries, 

 Beaucaire, Tarascon, and even Avignon ; and still subsist in such numbers as to 

 elicit his surprise that some authors should have asserted their extinction in 

 France. Of two which Fr. Ouvier had alive, one was from the Danube, and the 

 other from the Gardon, in Dauphiny. In the Norwegian Pharmacopoeia of 1854, 

 the Norwegian castoreum holds its place beside that of Russia and of Canada. 

 Wylie, in the Russian Militaiy Pharmacopoeia, mentions the animal as common in 

 Russia and Siberia, and more rare in Livonia and Poland. In South Russia, 

 Demidoff says that they are somewhat scarce on the Danube, but that they are 

 more common in the region towards the Caucasus, and that many have been re- 

 cently killed in the districts watere d by the Natanebi and the Tereck. To the 

 river habitats already noted, Moleschott adds the Inn, the Lech, the Upper Rhine^ 

 the Weser and the Bug, as each still presenting rare examples. Upon the whole, 

 the beaver still appears to be encountered, seldom or never plentifully, always in 

 greatly diminished numbers, and generally with an extreme, and constantly in- 

 creasing rarity, in the Austrian and Prussian States, Bavaria, Russia, Sweden, 

 Norway, Lapland, France, and perhaps Switzerland. 



In ancient as in modern times tlie beaver was applied to the same- 

 uses, for dresSj for the table, and for medicinal purposes ; and from 

 all of these we derive interesting traces of the presence of this animal 

 in ancient historic localities. We learn from Herodotus, that the 

 Budini employed the fur of the beaver as a trimming for their cloaks ; 

 and from ancient laws and local charters, fixing the duties on exports, 

 we are supplied with indications of its use at various times for similar 

 purposes. In the "Welsh code of Hywel Dda, circa A. D. 900, the 

 Llosdlydan, or beaver, is valued at 120 pence. In the Leges Burgo- 

 rum instituted by David I. of Scotland, circa A. D. 1150, fixing the 

 rate of custom duties on " Peloure,'" — or peltries, as we now call 

 them, — beavers' skins are mentioned along with those of the fox, the 

 weasel, the martin, the wild cat, the ferret, &c., each being charged at 



VOL. IV. BB 



