238 REPORT—1843. 
My friend Col. Hamilton Smith, the founder of the subgeneric divisions of 
the Linnean Cervus, has referred the gigantic Deer of Ireland to the section 
Dama, or the Fallow Deer* ; but the peculiar proportions and modifications 
of the antlers of the extinct species in question afford as good grounds for a 
special subgenus for its reception, as those on which the subgenus Dama 
itself has been proposed. 
I subjoin the following dimensions of the skull and antlers of a few of the 
most perfect specimens that have come under my notice :— 
No. 1, ft. in. No. 2, ft. in. No, 3, ft. in. 
Pe hoy 9 RE Oe apy ere ey etree alan Di 18 La 
Between the extreme tips of the antlers in a 
BIPORSUL ING 0.5. « sspspnsgicctaoh tivtans otameene tara: 5 oui 8 9 92 
Length of a single antler, following its curve...... 59 iis 510 
The difference in the extent of the interspace between the tips of the antlers 
depends on their direction and degree of curvature. Dr. Hart states that it 
is not uncommon to find the fossil antlers 10 feet between the extreme tips ; 
the same interspace between the largest antlers of the true Elk does not ex- 
ceed 4 feet. 
With regard to the skeleton, if the peculiar size and strength of the cervical 
vertebra in the male Megaceros be excepted, which have a physiological 
adaptive relation to the enormous weight of the head when the antlers are 
fully developed, the forms and proportions of all the other bones, and espe- 
cially those of the nose and of the upper and lower jaws, closely agree with 
the type of the Fallow and Reindeer. 
Prof. Phillips first described the skull of the female Wegaceros, and showed 
that, as in the typical Deer, it had no trace of antlers. 
I have had the opportunity, through the kindness of the Earl of Enniskillen, 
of examining three other skulls of the female Megaceros. The skull in this 
sex is chiefly characterized by a longitudinal angular prominence, which rises 
from the posterior half of the frontal suture, and very much resembles the 
median prominence, sometimes called the third horn of the Giraffe. An irre- 
gular subquadrangular vacancy intervenes between the angular extremities 
of the frontal, nasal, lachrymal and superior maxillary bones. The roof of 
each orbit is perforated by a circular foramen, smaller than in the male. 
The earliest observations bear testimony to the abundance of the remains 
of the Megaceros in Ireland. In the account given by Molyneux in 1697, 
three specimens were disinterred from the same bog within the extent of a 
single acre, at Dardiston in the county of Meath. 
The first specimen discovered in England consisted of a skull and antlers 
from beneath a peat-moss at Cowthorpe, near North Deighton, in the county 
of York. 
Mr. Parkinson refers the beams of two antlers found in the till at Walton 
in Essex, on account of their large size, to the great Irish Deer, and I have 
obtained more satisfactory evidence of the Megaceros from the same newer 
pliocene stratum, by inspection of the collection of fossils belonging to Mr. 
Brown of Stanway, in which is preserved, not only the large round beam, but 
the characteristic brow-antler and part of the palm, as far as where it has 
expanded to a breadth of 10 inches. The length of the brow-antler is 5} 
inches, but its extremity is broken off. 
Mr. Brown has obtained from the same freshwater formation on the Essex 
coast, the entire lower jaw of the Megaceros. 
The base of an antler as large as that of the Megaceros has been dredged 
* Griffith’s Translation of Cuvier, vol. iv. p. 873 vol. v. p. 306, 
