26 Dr Hibbert on the Discovery of the Fossil Elk. 



mountain torrents has become more or less mixed with sand 

 and o-ravel, or from forming the bed of ancient pools, or lakes 

 of water, has become mixed with the remains of shells, as well 

 as of vegetable substances. " In the flats," says Mr Oswald, 

 " the common marl is loaded with sand, and possesses a laminar 

 structure. In Andreas it is of a reddish colour. The Jurby 

 marl is of an earthy grey, and of a compact texture. A spe- 

 cimen obtained twelve feet deep, contains roots of the fern, 

 and many thin fragments of shells." To this description, I 

 would add, that in marl of this kind no remains of the elk have 

 yet been discovered ; they scarcely appear to occur anywhere, 

 (at least in any quantity,) except in the shell marl — a circum- 

 stance which, as I have stated, must be considered as connect- 

 ed with some habits of the living animal which I have endea- 

 voured to explain. 



The situation in the Curragh, where numerous remains of 

 the elk have been found, was pointed out to me by the Bishop 

 of Man, to whom I have been much obliged for some valuable 

 assistance which I received in the course of my researches. 

 The deposit from which they are obtained is in the parish of 

 Ballauffh; but as the excavation which had been made was then 

 nearly filled with water, I must refer to Mr Oswald's account, 

 inserted in the present number of this Journal, for a more parti- 

 cular geological description. It would appear that, in a basin 

 shaped cavity, a bed of shell marl reposes, which has been worked 

 from eleven to fourteen feet deep. Below this is the diluvial 

 deposit.* A layer of white sand three feet thick reposes upon 

 the marl, and above the whole a bed of peat four to six feet 

 thick. From this deposit the skeleton of the elk in the Uni- 

 versity of Edinburgh was obtained. This specimen, general- 

 ly conceived to be entire, was the ingenious compilation of a 

 blacksmith of Ballaugh ; it was principally got up from bones 

 that had been dispersed, and, as the osseous system of the pro- 

 posed antediluvian animal was still incomplete, a few odd 

 joints were necessarily borrowed from other animals. 



• Mr Oswald has remarked, that " throughout this district, where a 

 sufficient depth is attained, boulders of grey limestone of various sizes" (the 

 transported materials of the diluvium) " are found." 



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