MUSK BEAVER. 
The systematic writers are divided in their 
opinions respecting this animal: some of them 
considering it as a Beaver; and others, merely 
as a Rat. It is the Castor Zibethicus, or 
Civet Beaver, of Linnaeus; but the Mus Zibe- 
thicus, of Gmelin's edition of the Systema 
Naturae. In Smith's Virginia, it is called 
Mussascus ; in Josselyn's Voyage to New 
England,, the Musquask ; in Lawson's Carolina, 
and by Charlevoix, the Musk Rat ; by Pen- 
nant, the Musk Beaver ; arid, by BufFon, the 
Ondatra,, or Canadian Musk Rat. Ondatra, 
Bulron says, is the name given to this animal 
by the North-American. Savages. 
In the Memoirs of the French Academy of 
Sciences, for the year 1725, there is a very 
compleat description of this animal, including 
some most curious anatomical remarks, by 
Monsieur Sarrasin, then King's Physician at 
Quebec, and a learned and ingenious corre- 
spondent of the Academy. It vv^as in. honour 
of 
