134 ^^'^ Irish Nahiralist. December, 



The ancient Irish Wolf in its dentition approached the large 

 Arctic Wolf, at present found in the extreme north of North 

 America.^ 



There is strong evidence, therefore, for the belief that 

 the Wolf existed in Ireland in very remote times, probably 

 before man appeared in the country. And there can be 

 no doubt that it was indigenous and must have migrated to 

 IreJand in company with or at about the same time as the 

 Bear and the other large extinct mammals referred to. I 

 cannot attempt here to discuss my reasons for the belief 

 that all these creatures wandered to Ireland before the latter 

 had become separated from Great Britain. I have done so in 

 other writings, and it is not of vital importance in any case. 

 We may assume either that the Wolf of the British Islands 

 came of the northern stock and was of a more powerful 

 build than the continental race, or else that the Wolf all 

 over Europe degenerated in its dentition in the course of 

 time. Even Prof. Owen long ago drew attention to the 

 resemblance of a Wolf's skull from Kent's Hole in England 

 with that of the Arctic Wolf.~ The Wolf certainly arrived 

 in England in pre-glacial times, for it occurs in the Forest 

 Bed, which belongs to the Pliocene Age. That it was 

 contemporaneous in Ireland with the Irish Elk has already 

 been alluded to, and Prof. Leith Adams expressed the 

 opinion that herds of the latter were probably driven into 

 lakes b}^ wolves and found their death in them.'^ 



One of the earliest historical proofs of the existence of 

 the Wolf in Ireland comes to us from Giraldus Cambrensis, 

 who visited this country in the twelfth century. He pointed 

 out that either in consequence of the great mildness of the 

 climate or else in token of the evils of treason and rapine, 

 which are ripe here before their proper season, wolves have 

 often whelps in the month of December. 



^ Scharff, Sc-yffiour and Xewton : Exploration of Castlcpook Cave 

 Co. Cork. Pror. R. Tn<;h Acad., Vol. xxxiv. (Section B), 191 S. 



2 Richard Owen : History of British Fossil Mammals and Birds, i8^6. 



3 A. I-eith Adams : On the recent and extinct Irish ^fammals. Proc. 

 R. DuhlhrSociety (N.S.), Vol. ii., 1878. 



