310 Dr Hibbert 07i the History of ifie Cervus Euryceros, 



clad were derived from the fossil Cervus of the country. — (See 

 the seventh volume of the Archoeologia Britannica.) 



Such is the account given by Munster of the animal's gene- 

 ral form and figure, from which, in reference to what we know 

 of the anatomy of the fossil skeleton, there is little or nothing 

 to dissent. It might, perhaps, be objected, that the brow 

 antlers of Munster's Cervus do not project sufficiently down- 

 wards over the forehead. But I believe it will be found, that 

 there are not only mutual incongruities in this respect among 

 individuals of this one species, but that different notions of 

 this appearance are conveyed according to the position in 

 which the head is drawn. In the present instance, the brow 

 antlers somewhat resemble those which are engraved in the 

 fourth volume of Cuvier's Ossemens Fossiles, Plate 7. (p. 

 106) Fig. 3. It ought also to be recollected, that this antler 

 has been found to differ in different individuals in more im- 

 portant respects. Thus, it has been seen to divide itself into 

 two or three points, or to show no division of this kind at ail- 

 But it would be unfair to criticise, with too much minute- 

 ness and severity, a drawing, accompanied with a description, 

 made nearly three hundred years ago, during the very infancy 

 of our knowledge of natural history, and at a time when the 

 race described was evidently becoming extremely rare, if not 

 extinct ; and this forbearance is the more demanded as an act 

 of justice, in a case where the essential and permanent charac- 

 teristics of the form and figure of the animal appear to be 

 given with such a degree of accuracy and fidelity, as to render 

 it impossible that we should confound them with those of any 

 other race of Cervi then known to be in existence. If, how- 

 ever, some slight discrepancies should be insisted upon, I am 

 quite willing that Munster's Cervus be considered as a variety 

 only of the Cervus euryceros, or Fossil Elk of Ireland, analo- 

 gous to such varieties as we find in the breed of horses, of dogs, 

 of foxes, of wolves, or of hares. 



But I now proceed to notice other circumstances connected 

 with the natural history of the Cervus euryceros, or fossil elk 

 of Ireland. 



