20 Dr Hibbert on the Discovery of' the Fossil Elk. 



of animals of this kind was destroyed by immersion, or caught 

 in a sudden and unexpected flood. For it is difficult to con- 

 ceive of any ordinary torrent, however rapid it might be, which 

 could have succeeded in preventing the elks on any such emer- 

 gency from securing their escape by repairing to the nume- 

 rous eminences, which are immediately contiguous to the marl 

 pit in which their bones are at present found. 



The hypothesis, then, that I would myself propose, is sug- 

 gested by the circumstance remarked in Ireland, as well as in 

 the Isle of Man, that the remains of the elk are commonly 

 detected in marl, — or that they are comparatively rare in any 

 other description of alluvial matter. For, may not a reason- 

 able supposition be entertained, that this very general occur- 

 rence has a reference to some particular habits of the elk when 

 alive ? Now, I have often had occasion to remark, that the 

 pools in which marl is apt to accumulate are often the very 

 spots that are selected by graminivorous animals, particularly 

 of the deer kind, as watering-places ; but, whether the predi- 

 lection which may be given to such pools, arises from calca- 

 reous matter being diffused through the water, or from some 

 other quality, I will not hazard a conjecture. Nor would I 

 build any hypothesis upon this result of my own experience, 

 the truth of which remains to be determined by more expe- 

 rienced agriculturists than myself. I can only add, that much 

 countenance is given to my opinion by several facts which 

 have come to my knowledge. Thus, in the vicinity of Al- 

 trinsrham, in Cheshire, remains of the common deer have been 

 found imbedded in ancient marl ; and from the marl of Wal- 

 lisev Mere, the pool of which is in part filled up by a deposit 

 • of this kind, bones of similar animals were lately extracted. 

 When, therefore, we reflect, that the remains of elks are 

 chiefly found in those ancient pools which have been gradually 

 filled up by marl, the direct question is, — are we entitled to 

 infer, from this general circumstance, that these animals have 

 met with a natural rather than with a violent death ? On this 

 subject some light may be obtained by analogical examples. 

 In my inquiries respecting the situations in which the red 

 deer of Dunkeld are generally found, when they meet with a 

 natural death, I have been assured that they are most fre- 



