I can, however, only add, that as doubtless there are many more circumstances upon which the philosophical enquirer may wish to be satisfied respecting the habits of David Tate, I shall be happy to communicate any information respecting the medium through which his queries may be best answered.—I am, &c.

EDINBURGH, 18th April 1819.

XXXIII. Proofs that the Beaver was formerly a native of Scotland, including an account of some Fossil Remains of that animal found in Perthshire and Berwickshire. BY PATRICK NEILL, F. R. S. ED. F. A. S. & Sec. W. S. Communicated by the Author *.

IT has generally been believed, and probably not without rea

son, that the beaver (Castor Fiber, Lin.) was once indigenous to different parts of Britain, particularly Wales and Scotland. I shall first notice the evidence of the existence, in former times, of the beaver in Wales; for, in this way, as will presently ap pear, some light may be thrown on the question of its having likewise been one of the native quadrupeds of Scotland.

The earliest written authority on this subject with which I am acquainted, is contained in a remarkable document of the 9th century, which has been fortunately preserved and published, the Laws of Howel the Good †. In Book iii. § 11, 12. where the prices of furs are regulated,

The Marten's skin is valued at..

.....

The Otter's (Ddyfrgi or Lutra) at.......

.24 d.

.12 d.

120 d.

The Beaver's (Llosdlydan or Castor) at no less than or at five times the price of the marten's fur, and ten times the price of the otter's. From these brief entries, I think we are entitled to conclude, 1. That the beaver (by the legislator distinguished by the descriptive and appropriate title of Llosdlydan or broad-tail, and, as it were, contrasted with the ddyfrgi, wa

This paper was read before the Wernerian Natural History Society on the 1st of May 1819.

Leges Wallica by Dr Wotton.

VOL. I. NO. I. JUNE 1819.

M

ter-dog or otter,) was then hunted in Wales for the sake of its fur: 2. That this skin was held in high estimation; and, 3. That the beaver had already, before the close of the 9th century, become a scarce animal in this country.

The next authority which has come to my knowledge, is contained in the "Itinerarium Cambria" of Sylvester Giraldus de Barri. This writer, it may be remarked, made his journey into Wales, towards the end of the 12th century, or about 300 years after the date of the laws of Hywel Dha, as the attendant of no less a personage than Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, whose zeal led him personally to excite the Welchmen to join in the projected crusades. In such company, and on such an errand, Giraldus must have had ample opportunities of intercourse with the best informed people of the districts through which he passed; and that he was inclined to be an observer of nature, is proved by the single fact, that when he arrives on the confines of the river Teivi in Cardiganshire, he immediately seems to forget the object of his mission, makes a long digression on the natural history of the beaver, and enlarges, with evident satis, faction, on the habits of that singular animal. Although he rehearses some of the exploded fables of the ancients, yet other parts of his account are very accurate, and may be considered as bearing the marks of a description made from actual observation. He mentions, for instance, that, in the course of time, the habitations of the beavers assume the appearance of a grove of willow trees, rude and natural without, but artfully constructed within;-that the beaver has four teeth (incisores), two above and two below, which cut like a carpenter's axe ;and that it has a broad short tail, thick like the palm of the hand, which it uses as a rudder in swimming. In the simple and bold language of a man who knew the truth of what he was writing, he says of the Teivi, "Inter universos Cambria seu etiam Lloegriæ fluvios, solus hic castores habet;" and adds, "In Albania quippe, ut fertur, fluvio similiter unico habentur, sed rari We may perhaps infer from this cautious mode of expression, that the author intended to contrast the nature of his evidence, and to intimate, that the fact previously mention

Itin. Camb. lib. ii. cap. 3.

ed depended on surer grounds, or on his own observation. But the very cautiousness of the language in which the report relative to Albania is repeated, cught to increase our reliance on its authenticity. It would appear, therefore, that in the 12th century, the beaver still existed in Scotland, but was then a scarce animal.

The first of the native topographers and historians of Scotland whose works assumed a printed form, and have come down to us, is Hector Boethius, who wrote his Description and History about 300 years after the time of Giraldus, or towards the end of the 15th century. After describing the dimensions of LochNess, he says, "Ad lacus latera, propter ingenta nemora ferarum ingens copia est, cervorum, equorum indomitorum, capreolorum ad hæc, marterellæ, fovinæ ut vulgo vocantur, vulpes, mustele, fibri lutræque, incomparabile umero, quorum tergora exteræ gentes ad luxum immenso pretio coëmunt*." Here the fibri are enumerated with such perfect confidence among the other quadrupeds whose furs were in request for exportation, that we may seem fastidious as to evidence, if we hesitate to admit that beavers were still to be found at Loch Ness, in the time of the author. But the "incomparable numbers," and "immense prices," of Boethius, are phrases which may well stagger our belief; and they form a singular contrast with the ❝ single river" and "rarity" mentioned by Giraldus three centuries before.

It may further be remarked, that Bellenden, in the transla tion of Boethius which he undertook (probably about the year 1536) at the request of King James V., while he omits the cervi, capreoli, and even the lutra, mentions bevers without the slightest hesitation. His words are: "Mony wyld hors, and amang yame ar mony martrikis (pine-martens), bevers, quhitredis (weazels), and toddis (foxes), the furringis and skynnis of thayme are coft (bought) with great price amang uncouth (foreign) merchandis +." It must be confessed, however, that the carelessness and looseness of the translation, as evinced by the very passage in question, greatly detract from the conclusiveness of Bellenden's testimony; for it seems at least fully as probable that there were fallow-deer and roes in the forests of Loch

Boethius, Scot. Hist.

+ Bellenden, Croniklis of Scotland.

Ness, as that there were wild horses there; and it admits of no doubt whatever, that otters were then to be found on the banks of the lake, for they are so to this day.

In the Statistical Account of Scotland, it may be noticed, no mention is made of any trace of the remains of these animals having ever occurred in the neighbourhood of Loch Ness. What is more remarkable, in the extensive excavations along the line of the Caledonian Canal, from Inverness to Corpach, and in the course of deepening, by means of a powerful dredging-machine, the bed of Loch Dochfour, no bones of the beaver, nor indeed of any other quadruped, have occurred. With the exception of marine shells in the alluvial land next to the sea, the only organic remains hitherto found, have belonged to the vegetable kingdom, and have consisted chiefly of filbert nuts and trunks of oak trees. I state this on the authority of one of the resident engineers, who adds, that ever since the commencement of this national undertaking, all the sub-contractors and overseers have been enjoined to preserve any organic remains, especially skeletons, which should occur in the progress of the work. The accuracy both of Boece and of Bellenden seems to be strongly impugned by this important fact, that no mention of beavers occurs in any of the public records of Scotland now extant. In an act dated June 1424, c. 22. " Of the custome of furringis," mertricks (martens), fowmartes (polecats), otters and tods (foxes), are specified, but not a word is said of beavers, although these, had they existed, must have been the most valuable of all, not only for their furs, but for: the substance called castor, (found in the inguinal glands of the animal), which in those days still retained some share of its ancient repute as a medicine. As it is pretty plain from their writings, that neither the historiographer nor his translator had the slightest claim to the character of being naturalists, and as both give abundant proofs of their nationality, in boasting beyond measure of the products of their country, it may be considered as not improbable that the beaver was extinct in Scotland before their time, although the tradition regarding its existence in former days was then so strong and general, as to lead them to enumerate it without hesitation among the wild animals of the country;-in the same way as the capercailzie, or cock of the

wood, may still be found marked, in some popular books, as a native of the Scottish Highlands, although a century has elapsed since it ceased to be heard in our pine forests.

"

Sir Robert Sibbald does not, on this topic, show any of that precision, and zeal for inquiry, which characterize many other parts of his writings. He contents himself with referring to Boece, in proof of the beaver having formerly been found in Scotland, and adds, with seeming indifference, " An nunc reperiatur nescio*. It should however be remembered, as a partial justification of this apparent remissness, that, at the period in which he wrote, the upper or western parts of the counties of Aberdeen and Inverness, the reputed haunts of the beaever, were difficult of access to a degree now scarcely to be conceived. An enlightened Legislature and Government, by liberally promoting the formation of commodious roads in almost every direction through the Highlands, have converted into a safe and easy tour of a fortnight, what would, in Sibbald's time, have been regarded as a kind of summer's journey, fraught with no little danger.

No modern writer on the natural history of Scotland, seems to have examined the subject. The late Dr Walker, Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh, in his "Mammalia Scotica +," merely states, that beavers formerly existed in this country, but are now wholly extinct, and makes an allusion to the passage already quoted from Giraldus. In his lectures, however, the Doctor used to mention, that the Scots Highlanders still retain, by tradition, a peculiar Gaelic. name for the animal.

In order to satisfy myself with regard to the value of this traditionary evidence, I applied to the venerable and learned Dr Stuart of Luss,-a gentleman distinguished both as a naturalist and a Celtic scholar,-who was the friend and fellow-traveller of Pennant and of Lightfoot in their principal excursions through Scotland, and who has devoted a great part of his life to the laborious and important task of translating the Sa

⚫ Scotia Illustrata, Pars II. lib. iii. p. 10.

Posthumous Essays on Natural History, &c. Svo, p. 490. edited by Mr Charles Stewart.