128 
1875. Castor (jiber var.?) canadensis, Coucs and Yatrow, Wheeler’s Expl. 
and Surveys west 100th Merid., v, Zodl., 1875, 123 (Colorado, 
Utah, and Arizona). 
Geographical Distribution.-—-The Beaver formerly existed along the sea- 
board to northern Florida, and in Texas tothe Rio Grande. Its northern 
limit is apparently that of the forests; it extends to the Barren Grounds 
and is abundant in Alaska. 
Its present range is much less extended; few are found east of the 
Mississippi south of the Great Lakes. They remain in nofthern Maine 
and New York, and according to an article in “Forest and Stream,” 
November 2, 1876, they are trapped profitably in portions of Virginia. 
Their former abundance through the Ohio region and west to the Pacific 
is well attested; the names Beaver Creek, Beaver Dam, etc., are sugges- 
tive of their occurrence in Ohio and Indiana. Mr. Langdon says in his 
notes: “Indefinitely reported from the north-west portion of the State.” 
From “Atwater’s History of Ohio” (1838), the following: “ Beavers 
were once here in large numbers on the high lands at the heads of our 
rivers, but, with those who caught them, they have long since disap- 
peared from among us.” From the ‘‘ Pioneer History of the Ohio Valley,” 
Hildreth, 1848: ‘The Beaver disappeared in a great measure from this 
part of the country with their friends and admirers, the Indians.” From 
‘History of the State of Ohio,” Jas. W. Taylor, 1854: “Beaver Creek, 
near a little lake two miles long and one mile wide, and a remarkable 
place for Beaver.” 
Prof. M. V. B. Knox states that this species is becoming scarce in Kast- 
ern Kansas. In that State it seldom builds dams, but lives under over- 
hanging banks and roots, and does much damage to timber along the 
streams.””* 
The writer has observed their work on the margin of Drummond 
Island and in the Sault St. Mary, where soft timber trees like the cotton- 
wood and willow were gnawed smoothly off just above the level of the 
ground. Occasionally a tree had fallen to the land instead of into the 
water, although trees leaning to the water are usually selected. In such 
cases the bark was not gnawed from the trunk or branches, as is done 
when the trees fall into the water. Pieces are found gnawed into cord- 
wood lengths, evidently that they might he readily dragged away to the 
underground burrows. Ap! 
Description.— Body thick, heavy, depressed, enlarging posteriorly, broad- 
est near the hips; head large and broad; nostrils lateral, divided; ears 
* Transactions Kansas Academy of Science, vol. 4, 1875, p. 21. 
