ON THE BEAVEliS OF SCOTLAND. 



217 



marl. Among the vegetable remains, common fil- 

 bert nuts, or at least the shells of the nuts, were 

 abundant. A large specimen of Boletus suberosus 

 so greatly resembled the hoof of some animal, that 

 it had been laid aside as such by the workmen ; 

 but the tubes and pores are sufficiently distinct to 

 afford characters. The overseer mentions in his 

 letter, that the fossil-wood which is found, is " prin- 

 cipally birch and alder ; with some oak, though not 

 much of it ; but no kind of fir-cones have been ob- 

 served." 



Mr Bonar has in his possession a pair of horns 

 belonging to the large species of deer already men- 

 tioned, of great size, and with fine antlers, found 

 in the same marl-pit, and near the same spot, only 

 two days before the occurrence of the beaver's re- 

 mains. 



The head of the beaver from Berwickshire is in 

 a much more perfect state than that from Perth- 

 shire. The cranium and bones of the face are en- 

 tire ; so is the lower jaw-bone ; all the four incisores 

 are perfect, retaining the peculiar kind of coloured 

 enamel which clothes the outer half of the circum- 

 ference of the tooth ; the cutting edges remain fully 

 as sharp as in recent specimens from Hudson's Bay. 

 The molares are also complete : It is considered as 

 almost characteristic of the beaver that the grinders 

 are without distinct fangs ; but in this specimen, 

 root-like bases are seen projecting from some of the 

 teeth, through their sockets into the orbits. The 



