362 REPORT—1840. 
The C. Elaphus, once abundant over Ireland, is now con- 
fined to the wilder parts of Connaught, as Erris and Conne- 
mara; and to one or two localities in the South, more espe- 
cially the vicinity of the lakes of Killarney. 
Sect. Il. MAMMALIA AQUATICA. 
Order 6.—PINNIPEDA. 
Fam. Phocide. 
Treland. ’ Great Britain. 
Phocea vitulina, Z. + 
0 Phoca greenlandica, Mull. 
0 »  barbata, Mull. 
Halicherus Gryphus, Bell. Je 
0 Trichecus Rosmarus, ZL. 
a 
was probably the species alluded to, especially as in the index to the volume 
appears “ Deer, red or fallow”. For a long period the Fallow Deer certainly has 
not been found in any part of Ireland where it could be called truly wild. 
A horn of this species which I possess, (through the kindness of Edward Benn, 
Esq., of Glenravel, county Antrim,) is stated to have been dug up from a con- 
siderable depth in a bog in his neighbourhood, but minute particulars respecting 
it could not be obtained. It may not be out of place to observe here, that the 
C. Dama is now well known to inhabit Greece in a wild state. Lord 
Derby has for some years possessed a pair of these animals of the common 
spotted variety, which were brought from the neighbourhood of Axium by 
Lord Nugent, and which, as | aminformed by my friend Mr. Ogilby, who 
examined them attentively, during a recent visit to their noble owner, differ 
in no respect from the common Fallow Deer of our parks. Moreover, as re- 
marked by the same gentleman, the universal application of the word Dama 
to this animal in the Italian, French, Spanish, and other modern languages de- 
rived from the ancient Latin, (added to the fact of the animal being still found 
in the forests of Italy, where there are no parks or inclosures,) points it out as 
the beast of chase so frequently mentioned under the same name by the Roman 
poets. Mr. Ogilby likewise remarks that it isin all probability the Platycerus 
of Pliny, or rather of the Greeks, from whom he copied. It is said in a note 
to the second edition of the Régne Animal to have been found in the woods 
of Northern Africa. 
Cervus Alces, L. A horn of the true Elk (C. Alces), as noticed by me in the 
« Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London,”’ for 1837, p. 53, was some 
years since presented to the Natural History Society of Belfast. Tothe donor 
it was given by a relative residing at Stewartstown, county Tyrone, who attached 
much value to it as a singular relic dug out of a peat-boy on his own property 
in that neighbourhood. That it was so obtained I am assured there cannot be 
a doubt. The horn is that of a very old animal, and quite perfect. On re- © 
moving the paint with which it was besmeared, the horn certainly presented a 
fresh appearance; but might not this be attributed to the well-known preserv- 
ative property of the soil in which it is said to have been found? There is not, 
that I am aware of, any record of this animal having ever existed ina wild state 
in the British Isles ; but as it inhabited a wide range of latitude on the continent 
of Europe, it is within the bounds of probability to believe that it may have 
been a native species. 
Sus Scrofa, L. The Wild Boar was at one period common in Ireland, but 
has long since become extinct. Giraldus remarks that it was of a small race, — 
but tusks of this animal dug up in our bogs are often of goodly dimensions. 
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