200 Mr. Weaver on the Fossil Elk of Ireland. 
duced this perforation is a wound by a sharp instrument, which 
did not penetrate deep enough to prove fatal, and between 
which event and the death of the animal a year at least must 
have elapsed, as the edges of the opening are quite smooth. 
The bones are so well preserved, that in a cavity of one 
shank-bone which was broken, marrow was found, having all 
the appearance of fresh rendered suet, and which blazed on 
the application of a lighted taper. They appear to contain all 
the prizciples to be found in fresh bones, with perhaps the 
addition of some carbonate of lime, imbibed with the moisture 
of the soft marl in which they had lain. 
The remains of the eight individuals were disposed in such 
a manner as to prevent the possibility of referring the com- 
ponent parts exactly to each skeleton; but all the heads with 
their branches were found; and one specimen is particularly 
fine, displaying the broad expanded palms, with almost every 
antler and projecting point in a perfect state. By joining this 
head to a selection from the other remains, a nearly perfect 
skeleton of the largest size has been formed by Mr. Hart; one 
rib, a few of the carpal and tarsal bones, and the bones of the 
tail being only wanting. 
Of the shells found in the white marl many are preserved 
entire; but the greater part are broken into small fragments. 
They are all univalves, and belong to fresh-water species, 
which exist at the present day. 
It is added, that so frequently have the remains of the fossil 
elk been discovered in the county of Limerick, that one gen- 
tleman enumerated thirty heads which had been dug up at 
different times within the space of the last twenty years. 
From Professor Henslow’s account of the curraghs, or peat 
bogs of the Isle of Man, it would appear that the remains of 
the gigantic elk are there also distributed in a manner analo- 
gous to that in which they are found in Ireland. That gen- 
tleman supposes a herd of elks to have perished there; and 
his description of the white, or grayish marl, in which their 
remains are found, answers in most respects to that of the 
white marl which so frequently forms the substratum of the 
peat bogs in Ireland. 
Upon the whole, the preceding details appear to justify the 
conclusion that the extinction of the gigantic species of elk is 
attributable rather to the continued persecution it endured from 
its enemies, accelerated perhaps by incidental natural local 
causes, than to a general catastrophe which overwhelmed the 
surface of the globe. In a word, it may be inferred that these 
remains are not of diluvian, but of post diluvian origin. 
Kenmare, April 12, 1825. T. WEAVER. 
XXXI. On 
