185 
Mr Neill on the Beavers Scotland. 
table remains which occur in it, and also of the marl. A- 
mong the vegetable remains, common filbert 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 work- 
men ; 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 principally birch and alder ; with some 
oak, though not much of it; but no kind of fir-cones have been 
observed.” 
Mr Bonar has in his possession a pair of horns belonging to 
the large extinct species of deer already mentioned, in high 
preservation, which were found in the same marl-pit, and near 
the same spot, only two days before the occurrence of the 
beaver’s remains. 
The head of the beaver from Berwickshire is in a much more 
perfect state than that from Perthshire. The cranium and 
bones of the face are entire ; 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 circumfe- 
rence 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 speci- 
men, root-like bases are seen projecting from some of the teeth, 
through their sockets into the orbits. The bones are dyed of a 
brownish hue, but not nearly so dark as those from Perthshire : 
the exterior enamel above mentioned, which in recent specimens 
is of a brownish-yellow or dull orange colour, has become al- 
most jet black. 
On comparing these fossil heads with recent ones from Hud- 
son’s Bay and Canada, in the possession of Professor Jameson 
and Dr Barclay, it appears that they all belong to the same 
species of Castor ; but although there seem to be no sufficient 
specific distinctions, it may be mentioned that the two fossil speci- 
mens have a greater resemblance to each other in general shape 
and proportions, than to any of four recent specimens with 
which they have been compared. In the fossil specimens, in 
particular, the nasal bones are proportionally larger than the 
