420 



of the equally large male Ursus spelceus, and consequently 

 the specific, and not merely sexual, distinction of U. priscus ; 

 but at the same time, the Irish crania show that the character 

 of the forehead alluded to in my ' British Fossil Mammalia,' 

 p. 83, is not constant, and not good for a specific difference 

 with Ursus arctos. To conclude, then, as at present informed, 

 I should refer your Irish skulls to Ursus arctos ; and the least 

 degenerated representative of that species now living, viz., 

 the great black bear, or very dark brown variety of the Scan- 

 dinavian wilds, is that which comes closest to the old Irish 

 bears. Whether this respectable carnivore continued to exist 

 after the slaughter of the last megaceros will be shown by the 

 precise bed in which the specimens were found. I should like 

 to know the authority, if any, for their derivation, from peat 

 bog, and not from shell marl, if the case be so. 



" Ever your's, 

 (Signed) " R. Owen." 



Mr. Ball was of opinion, from examination of the original 

 bear skulls, that they were not in the peat, but in the marl 

 below it, where he believed all the heads of the megaceros, 

 probably fifty, which he had closely inspected, were found. 

 In no case was peat to be discovered in the cavities, while in 

 many marl was present. He expressed his gratification in 

 finding that his own views were supported by those of 

 Professor Owen, from whom, on this and other occasions, 

 he received kind aid. He also expressed obligations to the 

 Earl of Enniskillen, Mr. Baker, Mr. Cooke, and Mr. War- 

 ren ; and concluded by moving the thanks of the Academy to 

 Mr. Abraham Whyte Baker, Sen., for his kindness in pre- 

 senting casts of his valuable specimens to its museum of anti- 

 quities. 



Colonel H. D. Jones presented tables of the fall of rain, 

 with the levels of the Shannon and state of the wind, observed 



