Fes., 1912. MamMats oF ILLINOIS AND Wisconsin — Cory. 161 
ders it entirely a matter of conjecture. It would seem likely, however, 
from geographical reasons that Beaver from southern Il!linois would 
probably show intergradation between canadensis and the southern 
race, C. c. carolinensis, and, perhaps, approach nearer the latter than to 
the typical form. 
Probably no other animal has been more intimately connected with 
the early history and ‘settlement of this country than the Beaver. 
This fine animal, the largest of our North American Rodents, possesses 
a commercially valuable skin with a more or less edible body, the tail 
at least being considered a delicacy by many people; and it is not 
surprising that after so many years of persecution both by Indians 
and white trappers, it has been exterminated throughout a large portion 
of its former range. It is still common, however, in some parts of the 
United States and in Canada, and where it has of late years received 
Governmental protection its numbers are on the increase. 
The enormous number of these animals which have been trapped 
and otherwise killed is suggested by the fact that during the years 1860 
and 1870 the number of skins received by the American Fur Company 
and Hudson Bay Company averaged 153,000 per annum* and, of course, 
an immense number of these animals were killed by white trappers and 
Indians, the skins of which did not find their way to either of the com- 
panies mentioned. Later the number decreased somewhat, but even 
at the present time the number of Beavers annually killed in the United 
States and Canada will probably exceed 75,000. 
During the early part of last century Beaver skins were a recognized 
basis of barter between the trappers (at that time largely Indians) and 
the fur companies, a blanket or rifle being valued at so many ‘“‘skins,”’ 
always meaning Beaver skins. That the rate of exchange was profitable 
to the fur companies is evident from the statement of Mr. Robert 
Brown, who says, ‘‘When beaver were 30s. per pound, Rocky Mountain 
beaver were piled up on each side of a trade gun until they were on a 
level with the muzzle, and this was the price! The muskets cost in 
England some rss.” (Proc. Linn. Soc. London, Zodl., 1868 (1869), 
Pp. 369-70.) 
In early days Beavers were common along the wooded streams 
throughout Illinois and Wisconsin, but at the present time they are 
practically exterminated in Illinois, although it is probable that a very 
few individuals may exist in the extreme southern portion of the state. 
Mr. B. T. Gault of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, wrote me that in the year 
1900 he saw some Beaver cuttings near Thebes, Alexander County, in 
southern I!linois and enclosed a letter from Mr. C. J. Boyd of Anna, 
*Seton, E. T. Life Histories of Northern Animals, I, 1909, p. 451. 
