Muskrat 
dry and had been covered by a forest, most of which had 
fallen." 
Genus FIBER (Lat. fiber, a Beaver) 
Fiber G. Cuvier, Lecons Anat. Comp., i., tabl. i. (1800). Type 
F. zibet hie us. 
Rat-like animals of considerable size, reaching 20 ins. or more 
total length; tail laterally compressed and flattened, and fringed 
with stiff hairs; ears small and hidden in the fur; hind feet large and 
set obliquely to the leg so that they can be turned edgewise when 
carried forward; palms and soles of the feet naked and fringed 
with hairs and provided with five tubercles only. Skull and 
dentition closely resembling that of MicroUis, but the molars 
rooted in the adults; upper incisors ungrooved; enamel pattern 
characterized by the reentrant angles of both the inner and outer 
sides of the molars being approximately equal. 
FIG. 34. MUSKRAT, Fiber zibethicus 
Skull showing dentition x i X 
This genus containing the Muskrats is confined to North 
America north of the southern border of the United States, 
though perhaps extending across the Mexican border into 
