THE PROTECTION OF BEAVERS ON THE RHONE. 183 



to my knowledge, three adult Beavers were killed : one in the 

 Rhone, near Avignon, on January 20th; another in the Gardon, 

 at Montfrin, on February 10th ; and the last at the same place on 

 March 22nd. 



In common with other naturalists, I would raise my feeble 

 voice on behalf of the French Beavers, and implore the authori- 

 ties to take energetic measures in order to retard as much as 

 possible the extinction of this animal. 



I take the liberty of pointing out some of the steps which our 

 able ministers should be requested to take with one accord in 

 order to protect the lives of the last Beavers of the Camargue, or 

 at least to retard their destruction. Their friendly aid would 

 greatly benefit in so interesting a cause : — 



(1) The Ministers of the Interior should be asked to add a 

 special clause to the game laws applicable only to the depart- 

 ments of the Gard and the mouths of the Rhone where the 

 Beavers are located, and prohibit for some years the killing of 

 these animals. They have always been hunted out of season, 

 and the authorities have shut their eyes to it, under the im- 

 pression (according to the report of those who kill them for 

 profit) that they are very destructive animals. 



(2) The Minister of Public Instruction should be asked to 

 protect a unique species of mammal and one of the most inte- 

 resting in our fauna, to be preserved by administrative measures, 

 in the same way as we preserve our megalithic and historic 

 monuments. 



(3) The Minister of Public Works, from this special point of 

 view, should have a watch set on the banks of the Gardon and of 

 the Rhone by ordinary river keepers. In this way one might 

 form a cantonment of these curious animals, and at the same time 

 ensure their not committing any serious depredations outside the 

 valueless land which, so to say, would be given up to them. 



I am not unmindful of the many difficulties to be overcome in 

 enlisting scientific interest to bring about the increase of the last 

 French Beavers, and in dispelling the preconceived notion of such 

 riparian owners as imagine that they have reason to complain of 

 their depredations. I would appeal also to all naturalists and to 

 all scientific societies to induce the authorities to interest them- 

 selves in this matter. 



At the beginning of the present century Beavers were not 



