The Hiftory 5/ A N I M A L Bi 527 
inlide, but on the outfide they are of a beautiful yellow, with a tinge of red : the 
neck is thick and fhort. 
The fore-legs are robuft, and the feet have each five diftindt toes: the claws are ob~ 
tufe and rounded j they refemble in £hape the nails of a human hand, and are of a 
dun colour : thefe legs ferve in the purpofe of arms, and the creature holds up it’s food 
to it’s mouth in them, as the fquirrel: the palm or inner part of the foot, and the 
different lengths and difpofition of the fingers, are juft as in the human hand. 
The hinder feet are very different from thefe; the toes are connected together by a 
black, thick, and ftrong membrane, in the mariner of thofe of a goofe, and they are 
terminated by oblong, obtufe, and black claws or nails: the body is covered with two 
kinds of fur; they are different in length, colour, and every other circumftance, and 
are both arranged in the fame fituation in all parts: the fhort fur immediately covers the 
body, the long hangs farther from it } the long fur is cofnpofed of hairs of the thick- 
nefs of thofe of a man’s head, of about an inch and a half in length, and of a deep 
blackifh-brown colour, and a very gloffy furface j thefe are very rigid and ftrong, and 
are fo folid, that, when cut afunder, there can be no cavity diftinguifhed in them, even 
by the afliftance of the microfcope: the fhort fur is compofed of hairs of not more 
than half an inch in length, extreamly thin, and as foft as the moft downy plumage of 
a bird ; this is of a paler colour than the other. The otter has this double covering of 
different fur as well as the beaver, and fo have fome other animals, efpecially thofe 
which roll in the mud, or dive under water; the ufe of the inner coat feems to be 
the keeping the water from immediate contadt with the body of the creature. 
The tail of the beaver is of a very lingular kind; it is of an oval figure, broad, 
flat, black, and has a fcaly appearance, like the fkin of fifties: it is near a foot in 
length, and is about three inches broad at the bafe, near five inches acrofs the middle^ 
and a little fmaller at the very extremity, whence it terminates in an oval figure. 
The penis is of a bony ftrudture, and is hid within the belly of the animal; under 
it are fituated the bladders, containing the medicinal fubftance, called Caftoreum, which 
the vulgar have fuppofed to be the tefticles of the animal. The tefticles in the male 
are fituated near the follicle of caftors, but, diftindt from them, their place is under the 
offa pubis. 
The beaver is a native of many parts of the world; it was once frequent in Eng* 
land, but the fpecies is, at this time, like that of the wolves in Ireland, utterly extindt 
here. All the writers on quadrupeds have named it 5 they call it Caftor and Fiber. 
Caflor cauda ,, longa, lanceolata plana , %i)Z 
The Caftor> with a long , fiat , lanceolated tail CtliSlii 
This is a very little animal, in comparifon of the former, and has fcarce any thing 
of the appearance of the genus, but, when examined, is found to poffefs all it’s cha- 
radteriftics. It is of the fize of the common mole, and very much refembles it in the 
fhape of the body, but the length of the legs and tail afford a very obvious diftindtion. 
The head is fhort and acute; the eyes are fmall, as in the mole 5 the ears are alfo 
fmall, the body is corpulent: the tail is equal to the body in length, and is of a flatted 
figure, and has a few fcattered hairs on it: the fore-legs are fhort, and the hinder ones 
longer: the back is of a deep ferrugineous brown, with an admixture of tawny and 
of black; the tides are tawny ; the belly is white : the toes of the hinder feet are con- 
nedted by a membrane, for the ufe of fwimming. 
This is a native of many of the northern parts of the world 5 it generally lives about 
the banks of rivers, and burrows itfelf holes in the ground for it’s fecurity and de¬ 
fence. Authors have confounded it with the Mus Exoticus of Clufius, but without 
reafon. The fur is much efteemed in Ruffia ; it wants the perfumed fmell of the 
fkin of the Mus Exoticus, and Clufius has been idly cenfured for denying it to this. 
HYSTRIX, 
