126 



Genus Castor Linn. 



Etymology : Latin, Castor — a Beaver. 

 Castor, Linn., Syst. Nat., i, 1776, 178. 



Generic Characters. — Feet four-toed ; hind feet palmate, with the second 

 toe double-clawed. Tail broad, flat, and scaly. Body stout and heavy, 

 most strongly developed posteriorly. Grinding teeth jZx, single rooted, 

 dentinal pulp persisting to a late period in life. General form of skull 

 sciurine, but lacking post-orbital processes. 



Represented by a single living species, formerly distributed over most 

 of the northern hemisphere. Two well-marked subspecies are recognized : 

 var. fiber of the Old World, and the New World form, var. canadensis. 

 Fossil remains scarcely distinct from the present species are found in the 

 Quarternary deposits of Europe and North America, 



Castor fiber Linn. 

 Bbavhr. 



1766. Castor fiber, Linn., Syst. Nat., ed. 12th, i, 1766, 78.— Forster, Phil. 

 Trans., Ixii, 1772, 375.— Erxleben, Syst. Reg. Anim., 1777, 440.— 

 Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, 1788, 124.— Schreber, Saugt., iv, 1792, 623, 

 pl. clxvi (skull), pi. clxxv (animal). — Shaw, Gen. Zool., ii, 1801, 

 30 — Tiedemann, Zool., i, 1808,481. — Pallas, Zoographia Rosso- 

 Asiatica, 1811, 412.— Oken, Naturgesch., iii, 2, 1816, 879.— Cu- 

 vier, Regne Anim., i, 1817, 186. — Desmarest, Mamm., 1822, 

 277.— Knox, Mem. Wern. Nat. Hist. Soc, iv, 1823, 548 (anato- 

 my). — J. Sabine, Franklin's Joun. to the Polar Sea, 1823, 659. — 

 Say, Long's Exped. R. Mts., i, 1823, 464. — Harlan, Fauna Amer., 

 1825, 122.— Godman, Am. Nat. Hist., ii, 1826, 21.— Griffith's Cu- 

 vier's An. King., v. 1827, 207, — Brandt and Ratzeburg, Mediz. 

 Zool., i, 1829, 13, pl. iii, iv, iva.— Owen, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond , 

 1830, 19 (anatomy). — Bennett, Gardens and Menag. Zool. Soc, 

 Quad., i, 1835, J 53.— Doughty, Cab. Nat. Hist., iii, 1839, 598, pl. 

 1.— Waterhouse, Charlesworth's Mag. Nat. Hist,, iii, 1839, 698 

 (figure of skull). — Schinz, Europ. Faun , 1840, 67.— Keyserling 

 and Blasius, Wirbelt. Europ., 1840, 31.— Emmons, Quad. Mass., 

 1840, 61.— Thompson, Hist. Vermont, 1842, 38.— De Kay, Nat. 

 Hist. N. York, i, 1842, 72, pl. xx, fig. 1, pl. viii, figs, a, 6.— Nils- 

 son, Skand. Faun., 1847, 409. — Woodhouse, Sitgreave's Exped. 

 down the Zuni and Col. Riv., 1853, 47 (New Mexico),— Giebel, 

 Saug., 1855, 619. — Blasius, Naturgesch. Saug. Deutschl., 1857, 

 405.— Wilson, Edinb. New Phil. Journ., 2d ser., viii, 1858, 1 (fossil, 



