MEGACEROS HIBERNICUS. 461 
Fig. 188. 
Skull of Female Megaceros, 3th nat. size. 
antlered sex. The cervical vertebre are of nearly equal 
length with those in the male, but are less by one-third in 
breadth, and the dorsal spines are one-third shorter ; 
these modifications obviously relate to the non-development 
of the antlers in the female sex. 
Is there any evidence, it may be asked, that the Me- 
gaceros coexisted with the human race, or that its ex- 
tinction was the result of man’s hostility? Dr. Molyneux * 
says that its extinction in Ireland has occurred *‘ so many 
ages past, as there remains among us not the least record 
in writing, or any manner of tradition, that makes so much 
as mention of its name; as that most laborious enquirer 
into the pretended ancient, but certainly fabulous, history of 
this country, Mr. Roger O'Flaherty, the author of Ogygia, 
has lately informed me.” . 
The term shelch in the romance of the Niebelungen, 
written in the 13th century, and there applied to one of 
the beasts slain in a great hunt a few hundred years before 
that time in Germany, has been cited by Goldfuss, and 
subsequently by other naturalists, as probably signifying 
* Phil. Trans. xix. p. 490. 
