MAMMALIA. 105 
= J55.| 1. Castor riper, AmericaANus. The American Beaver. 
Genus. Castor. Linn. 
Castor. SacarD THEODAT, Canada, p. 767. 
Castor fiber, Linn. * Sysé. 
Beaver Castor. PENNaNT, Arct. Zool., vol. i. p. 98. 
Castor ordinaire. DrEsmaRrEst, Mamm. 
Castor Americanus. F.CuviEr. 
Castor fiber. Hartan, Fauna, vol. i. p. 122. - 
The Beaver. Gopman, Wat. Hist., vol. ii. p. 21. 
Ammisk. CrEeEInp1ans. Ttsoutayé. Hunowns. 
DESCRIPTION. 
The Beaver has the form of an oval sack. The greatest girth of its body is just before the 
hind legs, and it tapers gradually on every side from thence to the obtuse muzzle. The hind 
legs are situated far forward, and the part of the body that projects behind them tapers pretty 
suddenly to the setting on of the flat scaly tail. The incisors are smooth and orange-coloured 
anteriorly, and posteriorly they are narrower and white. The nose is very obtuse both vertically 
and horizontally. The eye is small, and is situated rather nearer to the ear than to the 
end of the nose; the pupil is almost closed in a strong light. ‘The ears are short, thick, 
rounded, and well clothed with short fur; the animal closes the auditory openings by 
folding them vertically. The fur consists of a dense coat of somewhat waved, shining, 
smoke-gray down, concealed by a long coarse hair, which lies smooth, and, when in 
season, has a shining chestnut-brown colour, In summer, the fur, previous to falling off, 
changes its colour to a pale yellowish-brown, and some of the winter specimens have a very 
dark hue, approaching to blackish-brown. ‘The tail is tongue-shaped, and is covered with 
‘oval, angular scales, which are not tiled, and are smallest along the margin of the tail. They 
are not hard; some scattered hairs spring from their interstices, and the root of the tail is 
covered for a short space with finer but shorter hair than that of the back. The tail 
is flat horizontally... The fore-extremities are small and very short. ‘The toes are well 
separated, and, with the palms, are very flexible. They are used like hands in conveying 
food to the mouth, but are so short that the animal is obliged to incline its head towards 
them. The fore-claws are somewhat compressed, strong, and fitted for digging. The middle 
one is the largest, the one on each side of it somewhat shorter, and the outermost and inner- 
most are the two shortest. The three exterior ones wear down, whilst the other two remain 
sharp. The hind-feet have long, hard, and callous soles, and their long toes are connected by 
a web, which extends even beyond the roots of the nails. The second toe has two nails, the 
under one of which is rounded with a cutting edge, and lies nearly at right angles to the upper 
one;—there is a less perfect double nail on the inner toe. The other toes have simple 
FE 
