The Beaver is, or has been, distributed generally over all the northern parts of the Northern hemisphere, especially in the forest regions. Formerly it ranged over the whole of Europe, including the British islands, where there is historical evidence of its former existence, besides the skulls and bones which have been found in various places, but especially in the Fen lands. At present the animal appears to be completely exterminated in the southern parts of Europe from France southwards, with the exception of a small colony on the Rhone, which we believe is still in existence; and only a very few individuals survive in Germany, where they are found on a tributary of the Elbe, and in one or two other places. In some parts of Poland, Russia, and Austria, and in the Scandinavian peninsula, they still, to a greater or less extent, hold their ground; and in Asia they abound about the rivers of Siberia, and in the streams which flow into the Caspian Sea. In North America Beavers formerly abounded from Texas, and, according to manuscript evidence cited by Mr. Allen, even from Mexico, northward to the extreme limit of forest growth, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. The constant pursuit to which the animals were subjected, in consequence of the demand for their skins, greatly diminished their numbers, and in many localities altogether exterminated them; but they still occur over a very large extent of the North American continent, especially in the western territories, where they are even abundant in some of the wilder parts.