to North America. t of 



number of 80. Thefe Kennels I mean to defcribe 

 afterwards; in the mean time I only take occafion 

 to acquaint you, that the idle fort being unwilling 

 to work, are expelfd by the others, juft as Wafps 

 are by Bee. j and are fo teas'd by 'em*, that they 

 are forced to quit the Kennels^ which the better 

 and more induftrious Race huddles up to themfelves 

 in the Fens. This fupine Beaver refembles the o- 

 ther fort in its Figure, excepting that the Hair is 

 ruh'd off the Back and the Belly, which is occafi- 

 on'd by their rubbing againft the Earth when they 

 return to, or ftir out from their Holes. 



The Writers of Natural Hiftory are very much 

 out, in fancying that the Beavers cut off their own 

 Tefticles, when purfued by the Huntfmen j for that 

 which the Phyficians call C aft or eum> is not lodg'd in 

 the Tefticles, but in a certain Bag that Nature feems 

 to have formed on purpofe for thefe Animals, and 

 this Bag they make ufe of to clear their Teeth, af- 

 ter the biting of fame gummy Shrub. But fuppo- 

 fing the Tefticles to be the proper Receptacle of 

 the Caftor, we muft (till conceive that 'tis impofli- 

 ble for a Beaver to pull out his Tefticles, without 

 rending the Nerves of the Groin, in which they are 

 feated juft by the Sharebone. 3 Tis manifeft that Elian 

 and feveral other Naturalifts, were fcarce acquaint- 

 ed with Beaver-hunting; for had they known any 

 thing of the rn after, they would never have talk'd 

 of the purfuing of thefe Animals, which never go 

 from the fide of the Pond where their Kennels are 

 built ; and which dive under water upon the 

 leaft noife, and return to their Dens when the 

 danger is over. If thefe Creatures were but ienfi- 

 ble of the reafon for which War is declared againft 

 ? em, they would flea themfelves alive ; for 'tis their 

 Skin only that the Huntfmen want., the value o£ 

 (the Caftor being nothing in companion with that- 

 4 great Beaver is twenty fix Inches lopg, frotnj 



