Batt—Fossil Mammalia of Ireland. 343 
10.—CatTLe. 
Bos longifrons and B. frontosus. 
The mention of wild cattle by early Irish historians, though not unfrequent, 
does not tend to materially modify the conclusion arrived at from a full conside- 
ration of the evidence, which is, that the original stock from whence they were 
derived was first introduced from the continent of Europe to the British Isles by 
prehistoric, probably so-called neolithic man. 
The skulls obtained in ancient Irish dwellings, as well as in caves, bogs, and 
river deposits, clearly indicate the existence of two well-marked races, namely, 
the Celtic shorthorn, Bos longifrons, with small drooping horns; and its ally, B. 
Jrontosus, which had a remarkable protuberance between the horn cores, and was 
sometimes altogether unprovided with horns, like the Angus and other modern 
“polled ” breeds. 
The Museum possesses a fine collection of skulls of the shorthorn, and a few 
of B. frontosus from the crannoge of Dunshaughlin, county Meath; some of them 
afford distinct evidence of the cattle having been slaughtered with the pole-axe. 
No remains of either the urus (Bos primigenius) nor the bison (Bison europeus) 
have as yet been found in Ireland, though they both inhabited Britain. 
II.—THE PLEISTOCENE MAMMALS OF IRELAND. 
Bear, . . Ursus ( ferox) horribilis. 
Wotr,. . Canis lupus. 
Fox, . . Canis vulpes. 
Horse, . Equus caballus. 
RED-DEER, Cervus elaphus. 
Irish ELK, Cervus (Megaceros) hibernicus. 
Mammotu, Elephas primigenius. 
With the exception of the mammoth, all the above survived into the prehis- 
toric period of Ireland, and, among these, the Irish’ elk (see p. 337) is the only 
one which is now wholly extinct in all parts of the world. 
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