182 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



THE PROTECTION OF BEAVERS ON THE RHONE. 

 By M. G alien Mingaud." 



Amongst the wild animals which inhabit France at the pre- 

 sent da}', there are few more interesting than the Beaver. This 

 rodent, harassed as it is on all sides by man, who makes war 

 against it without remorse, is on the point of disappearing from 

 the French fauna, and will soon be no more than a memory of 

 the past, unless some energetic measures are speedily taken to 

 to avert its extinction. 



For many years a price was set upon its head by the Syndi- 

 cate of the digues of the Rhone at Beaucaire-on-Sea by the Little 

 Rhone. This reward, however, amounting to fifteen francs, has 

 been abolished at the pressing instigation of Professor Valery 

 Mayet. This is the first step to success, but it is not sufficient. 



It was supposed that the digues constructed on the banks of 

 the Rhone in Camargue, to protect the new plantations of the 

 vine and to prevent their submersion, were perforated by the 

 Beavers in the formation of their burrows, and that their solidity 

 in time of flood was thereby impaired. 



As a matter of fact, these digues, protected at their base by 

 rocks, are not easily assailed by Beavers. They form their 

 burrows not in the banks, but elsewhere, often far away from 

 water, and frequently on the banks of the Rhone, in the 

 segonneaux, that is to say, on the low grounds, marshy and 

 uncultivated, which protect the digues from the tide, and where 

 willows and poplars grow spontaneously. 



The Beaver is especially located in the part of the Petit 

 Rhone comprised between Fourgues and Sylvereal (Isle of 

 Camargue). There are some, also, in the Rhone between 

 Avignon and the Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhone ; and they are to 

 be found also in a tributary of that river, the Gardon. The 

 Beaver ascends this river as far as Pont-du-Gard, which is about 

 eight kilometres from its outlet in the Rhone near Comps. 



During the year 1895 I noted, in the case of the Gardon, 

 seven captures of this rodent, four of which passed through my 

 own hands. As to the delta of the Rhone, I have not been able 

 to get any precise information. Since the beginning of the year, 



* Translated from the ' Revue Scientifique,' 4th April, 189G, p. 443. 



