Dr Hibbert on the Discovery of the Fossil Elk. 19 



is superjacent to the shell marl, while a comparatively modern 

 bed of peat covers the whole. 



But a question is now naturally suggested — To what cause 

 do the elks owe their inhumation in the marl ? 



Dr MacCulloch on this subject observes, that " these ani- 

 mals appear to be collected, as it were, into a herd; and gene- 

 rally the skeletons are entire, or, at least, if bones are wanting, 

 there is no dispersion of them. Farther, it has been remark- 

 ed, that they are generally in an erect position, and the com- 

 mon people of the country who have dug them out, and who 

 have no hypothesis to serve, assert that their noses, when thus 

 erect, are elevated as high as possible. The natural conclu- 

 sion from these facts is, that this has been a herd suddenly 

 surrounded by the materials in which the specimens now lie, 

 so as to have been inclosed and preserved in their living atti- 

 tudes. An inundation of water and gravel, or sand and mud, 

 would explain this, when favoured by peculiar circumstances 

 in the form of the land ; while the preservation of the erect 

 posture, no less than the very singular position of the nose, 

 proves that the operation must have been gradual ; the ani- 

 mal's last efforts having been those of keeping its head as long 

 as possible above the flood." * 



Now, this opinion would not, I think, have been advanced, 

 if it were not for the misrepresentations of the labourers who 

 had been employed in the marl pits of the Isle of Man, and 

 who were consulted on the occasion. Nor does Dr MacCulloch 

 offer his hypothesis with any great confidence, being himself 

 doubtful how far the statements which he received were to be 

 depended upon. For, how could the labourers affirm that the 

 elk is generally found in an erect position, when an entire ske- 

 leton of this animal 'has never yet been discovered ? I shall 

 take another occasion to explain, that the specimen in the Uni- 

 versity of Edinburgh, generally conceived to be entire, is prin- 

 cipally composed of dispersed bones. Again, in the vicinity 

 of the Peel River, near the Tynwald Hill, the elk is found 

 in a situation which is perfectly fatal to the notion that a herd 



• See Article Organic Remains in Dr Brewster's Encyclopaedic^ 

 vol. xv. [>. 727. 



