Of the Beaver

In respect of his tail, [the beaver] is a perfect fish, and has been judicially declared such by the College of Physicians at Paris, and the faculty of divinity have, in consequence of this declaration, pronounced it lawful to be eaten on days of fasting.

Thomas Jefferys, 1760

From: The Natural and Civil History of the French Dominions in North and South America
by Thomas Jefferys
(2 vols., London, 1760) Vol 1: Page 27
Quoted in: Travelers' Tales of Colonial Natural History
by James R. Masterson,
The Journal of American Folklore,
Vol. 59, No. 231. (Jan. - Mar., 1946), page 53