or Fossil Elk of Ireland. 309 



to say. The height of him to the upper extremity of the dor- 

 sal spine, has been given at six feet six inches. He certainly 

 appears in the portrait published of him to be at his utmost 

 stretch. Judging also from the size of the cranium of the 

 animal, we are scarcely warranted in conceiving of him as either 

 being so tall or so long as he is thus represented. Cuvier on 

 this subject says, " II faut remarquer que la tete fossile ne 

 suivoit pas pour la grandeur la monstreuse proportion de son 

 bois : au contraire, les plus grandes tetes fossiles sont plus 

 courtes que des tetes ordinaires d'elan." {Ossemens Fossiles, 

 vol. iv. p. 79.) - ^3ai?i! 



Munster next speaks of the animal as possessing a figure 

 which is every thing but well proportioned, aspersing it under 

 the term figiira deformata. He is certainly represented in 

 the sketch as possessing a heavy, bulky trunk, little calcu- 

 lated for motions of celerity, with a small head, and such im- 

 mense horns as to make his body appear comparatively short ; 

 which description so well corresponds with the Cervi men- 

 tioned by Giraldus Cambrensis as existing in Ireland during 

 the 12th century, that it is impossible to resist the testimony, 

 that he is actually describing them in their living state. " Cer- 

 vos prae nimia pinguedine minus fugere praevalentes, quan- 

 toque minores sunt corporis quantitate, praecellentius efferun- 

 tU'i:^apitis et cornuum dignitate." 



Another part of Munster's description, remaining to be no- 

 ticed, relates to the animal's skin and hair. The skin is said 

 to be so hard as to be cut through or stabbed with difficulty. 

 The hair is described as of a reddish or brown colour, inclin- 

 ing to black ; the lower parts of the legs being whitish. But 

 the most remarkable trait in Munster's delineation of the ani- 

 mals, is the circumstance of the neck and breast being de- 

 fended by such long shaggy hair as truly adds to their figura 

 deformata. This singular appendage of long hair, by which 

 they are distinguished from almost every other Cervus, gives 

 some weight to the conjecture of the Countess of Moira, who, 

 upon the occasion of a human body being discovered in a 

 gravel bed of Ireland under eleven feet of peat, which owed 

 its complete preservation to being soaked in bog water, con- 

 ceived that the antique garment of hair with which it was 



