418 CONTRIBUTIONS TO A REVISION OF THE 



specifically the same as the Castor fiber Linnaeus of Europe. In 1897, Dr. E. A. Mearns 

 described * a subspecies of the typical Canadian animal, naming it Castor canadensis 

 frond ator and assigning its habitat to the " southern interior area of North America, 

 ranging north from Mexico to Wyoming and Montana." This appears to be the first 

 attenq:>t in literature to formally subdivide the American beaver, a species whose con- 

 stancy of characters over the vast and varied habitat which it frequents had hitherto been 

 unquestioned. There can be no doubt as to the tenability of Dr. Mearns' " Broad-tailed 

 Beaver " as distinguished from the Hudson bay animal, whose habitat Kuhl designated 

 as " ad f return Hudsoni " in his original description of canadensis. 



It is probable that the beavers inhabiting the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Missis- 

 sippi and Tennessee are equally entitled to subspecific rank. So rare has the beaver 

 become in these States, however, it would probably be impossible to verify such a predic- 

 tion with specimens now in our museums.t 



From what we know of the relationships of the. representatives of our eastern species 

 inhabiting the Pacific slope, Ave are led to expect that the beaver of that region would 

 also prove separable from canadensis. A very complete series of skulls, with three adult 

 and three young skins from the Cascades of Washington and Oregon, shows this to be 

 the case. 



Fortunately the synonymy of the American beaver is not involved and requires no 

 elucidation in this connection, as is shown by reference to Dr. J. A. Allen's Monograph 

 of the North American Rodentia. A synopsis of the American forms is herewith pre- 

 sented. 



Canadian Beaver. Castor canadensis Kuhl. 



Plate XXI ; Fig. 3. Plate XXII ; Fig. 3. 



Castor canadensis Kuhl, Beitr. Zool., 1820, p. 64. 



?" Castor americanus F. Cuvier, Hist, des Mam. du Mus., 1825 " {fide Brandt in Kennt. 



S'dugt. Russl., 1855, p. 64). 

 Castor fiber americanus Richardson, Fan,,. Bor. Amer., I, 1829, p. 105. 

 Castor fiber var. canadensis J. A. Allen, Monog. X. Amer. Rod., 1877, p. 444. 



Type Locality. — Hudson bay (" ad fretum Hudsoni" Kuhl). 



Geographic Distribution. — Northeastern North America, from the northern limit of 

 trees south to the United States and west to the Cascade mountains ; intersrrading east 

 of the Mississippi river into subspecies carolinensis, south-centrally into subspecies fron- 

 dator and westwardly into subspecies pacificus. 



*Proc. Nat. Mus , Vol. XX (adv. sheets March 5, 1- 



t As will be seen later, such specimens have since come to hand and are described a? ' ti'ltrtsUrnroUittnsi*. 



