20 CASTOROtOGIA. 



For those who were conversant with the traditions of the giant 

 beaver, and, who, like the essayist quoted, believed that the Indian 

 legends were based on fact, a triumph was close at hand. In 1837, 

 in the Report of the Geology of Ohio, Mr. J. W. Foster called the 

 attention of science to the discovery of a fossil, suggesting an extinct 

 animal of the Order Rodentia ; and in 1838 he gave a description of 

 the lower jaw, which he had found at Nashport, Licking County, 

 Ohio, under the name of Castoroides Ohioensis. Ten years later the 

 nearly perfect skull was obtained by the Rev. Benjamin Hale, of 

 Geneva College, and on this specimen a monograph was prepared 

 by Messrs. Hall & Wyman, which appeared in the Boston Journal 

 of Natural History in 1847. Since then specimens have been found 

 at Clyde, Wayne County, New York ; Memphis, Tennessee ; near 

 Charleston and Schawneetown, Illinois ; also in Michigan, Missis- 

 sippi, Louisiana, Texas and South Carolina ; giving a known 

 habitat extending from the States of New York and South Carolina, 

 westward to Michigan and Texas. These fragments do not, how- 

 ever, give any knowledge concerning the general form and charac- 

 teristics of the animal, for they are all parts of the skull only, and 

 are mainly but pieces of the teeth. Enough, however, has been 

 determined to ally the animal closely with the beaver, and it is 

 popularly called the ' ' Fossil Beaver of North America. ' ' Though 

 it is possible to recognize a likeness in dentition and cranial char- 

 acter with the genus Castor, it must not be implied that its habits 

 and form were identical with the beaver as we know it to-day ; 

 a glance at the accompanying plate shows that the brain capacity is 

 smaller than the beaver, and this alone indicates essential differ- 

 ences of character ; in fact there are some features more clearly 

 resembling the Cap3^bara, and j^et there is enough difference from 

 either to constitute a new genus. 



The age to which both these fossil animals belonged is a 

 matter of importance, as also, is the fact that they lived within 

 historic times, and were, doubtless, well known to the early 

 races of men. The period is comprehended in geologic terms, as 

 the "Quaternary, or Age of Man," and though it is spoken 

 of geologically as recent, any calculation in years would be stupen- 



