234 BRITISH MAMMALS 



Anglo-Saxon words meaning beaver meadow. Beverley was 

 founded and named about 710 a.d. Many other places in 

 England between Yorkshire in the north and Wiltshire in the 

 south retain names (such as Beveridge) showing that they were 

 associated with the beaver by the early English. The Anglo- 

 Saxon word befer (pronounced bever) has kindred forms, not 

 only in all the other Teuton languages, but in Latin (fiber) and 

 Russian (bobr). It would seem, indeed, as though this was the 

 original Aryan name for the beaver which the Celts had lost.^ 



Fossil or semi-fossil bones of the beaver are found in all 

 parts of England, from Devonshire to Yorkshire and Norfolk, 

 dating from the early part of the Pleistocene period. Its re- 

 mains, dating from the Pliocene (which is earlier still), have been 

 found in Northern Italy. It is interesting to note that in the 

 writings of Welsh and Scottish historians, who described the 

 beaver and its mode of life from actual observation (in all proba- 

 bility), it pursued exactly the same habits of constructing a lodge 

 in the middle of a pool, and of cutting down trees to build dams, 

 as is related of its existing representatives to-day in Europe and 

 America. 



Like so many other British mammals, the beaver seemingly 

 never reached Ireland. It is quite possible that its introduction 

 into Scotland was a much later occurrence than its first invasion 

 of England, and took place probably after the Glacial ages, by 

 which time Ireland had become completely insulated. Never- 

 theless, inasmuch as the strait separating the Mull of Kintyre 

 from the north-eastern extremity of Ireland cannot at that period 

 have been very wide, and as the beaver is a strong swimmer, it 

 is certainly extraordinary that it should not have reached Ireland 

 and thriven in the suitable climate of that island. 



Trogontherium cuvieri. The Giant Beaver 



This creature was about one and a quarter times the size of 

 the common beaver. In the structure and configuration of the 

 skull, and in the molar teeth, it is slightly less specialised than 

 ^ Though they also borrowed the Anglo-Saxon befer. 



