﻿Prof. Milne — Across Europe and Asia. 405 



has thriven rapidly, and often, whilst securing its footing, it has 

 rooted out some pre-existing species. 



At present a line of rail is being built across the Urals from Perm 

 to Ekaterinburg, and for this the rats are waiting. Strange as it 

 may seem that rats should wait for trains, no sooner is one ready 

 for them than it seems certain that they will commence their march 

 eastwards into Siberia. 



Here we have a modern example of a new species appearing 

 suddenly in an area, analogous to those sudden appearances met with 

 in palfeontological records. In such records we may, however, 

 notice that these new appearances are sometimes coincident with, or 

 else rapidly succeed, the dying out of some form which seems 

 never to return. A recent example of this sort we may draw from 

 the same districts we are now considering. 



This example is the Beaver, which, if not quite extinct, is cer- 

 tainly an almost unknown animal. At one time it inhabited the 

 whole of Europe and Western Asia, but now it is doubtful if many 

 survive, excepting in a few districts where they have received pro- 

 tection. In Bavaria, where they appear to have become extinct so 

 late as 1860, there are no less than sixty places, like Biberach, 

 Biberfeld, etc., all testifying to their former abundance. Reading 

 Murray's " Distribution of Mammals," one might expect to find 

 them yet existing in considerable numbers in the streams of the 

 Ural Mountains ; but from all that I could learn, I think that this is 

 not the case. In times gone by it used to be found upon the Eiver 

 Boroslovsky, but even there they have been exterminated. In 1859 

 two beavers were seen on the Eiver Kakoia. In 1873 one, probably 

 a descendant of this last-mentioned pair, is said to have been seen, 

 and this is, I believe, the last record of beavers in the Urals. Further 

 to the north, however, there are many rivers to be explored, where 

 there is a possibility of still finding the creature ; but of its actual 

 existence I could not gather any information. 



Looking all over the Asiatic Continent, although it was often 

 stated to me that the Beaver was to be found in such localities as 

 Yakutsk and Irkutsk, as I approached these places the animal 

 appeared to be as far off as ever. The Yakutsk merchants obtain 

 the skins they sell from the Tchucktians, who in turn obtain them 

 from the neighbourhood of the Anadyr Eiver, and perhaps also from 

 the western part of North America. 



The hare (Lepus timidus) is an animal which is rarely seen on the 

 eastern side of the Urals, whilst upon the west, especially in Central 

 Eussia, it is very common. In the case of some species, as the 

 Eeindeer (C tarandus) and Moose (0. alces), the Urals form an elevated 

 pathway by which inhabitants of the north are enabled to descend 

 towards the south without suffering greatly from any change of 

 climate. 



Besides the above two species of deer, C. capreolus is also a 

 common inhabitant of the Urals, In the Middle Urals the Bear 

 ( Ursus arctos) is to be met with in considerable numbers, indications 

 of its abundance being found in the seal of the Government of Perm, 

 the effigy on which is a bear. 



