182 Mr Neill on the Beavers of Scotland. 
cred Scriptures into the Gaelic language. From him I received 
a confirmation of Dr Walker’s statement, that the ancient Gaelic 
name of the beaver is still known to the Highlanders in the re- 
mote western districts of Scotland. The name (says the Doc- 
tor) is Losleathan^ derived from /o.?, the tail, point or end of a 
thing, and leathan^ broad ; or, Bobhran losleathan, the broad- 
tailed otter.” The similarity between this Gaelic name, lianded 
down by tradition to the 19th century, and the Wel^h name 
(Llosdlydan) recorded in the Leges Wallicse of the 9th century, 
is very striking : the etymology of the names is evidently the 
same ; and indeed they may be regarded as identical Dr 
Stuart adds, that he recollects to have heard of a tradition a- 
mong the Highlanders, vvdiich he thinks is probably still preserv- 
ed in the country, tliat the “ beaver or broad-tailed otter once 
abounded in Lochaber.” 
I have now to state, that the evidence, written and tradition- 
ary, which has just been detailed, tending to show that beavers 
formerly inhabited Scotland, has received the most ample con- 
firmation, from the occurrence of unaltered fossil remains of the 
.ammal on two occasions ; first in a county to the north, and 
next in a county to the south of the Forth. 
The first instance I have to mention, occurred no less than thirty 
years ago, but has not hitherto been noticed in any publication. 
From an entry in the minutes of the Society of Antiquaries of 
Scotland, dated 16th December 1788, it appears, that ‘‘ Dr Far- 
quharson presented to the Society the fossil skeleton of the head 
and one of the haunch-bones of a beaver.” These bones are still 
preserved in the Museum of the Society ; and I was allowed to 
examine them, and compare them with others. The back part 
of the cranium is gone ; and the zygomatic arch of the left orbit 
is shattered ; a part of one side of the lower jaw-bone is likewise 
broken ; of the iiicisores, only some remains of those of the 
lower jaw now exist. What is called the haunch-bone, is the 
left os innominatum of the pelvis ; it is quite entire. I have not 
* It is rather a puzzling circumstance, that, in the Poems of Ossian, no 
mention should occur of the ludeathan, an animal whos-e manners must have 
i^truck with admiration a rude people, and whose fur must have been invaluable in 
the eyes of the Fingalian heroes and their ladies. 
