lately discovered in the Isle of Man. 131 



As it is now evident that the remains of two animals, each 

 bearing the name of elk, are to be found in the marl pits of 

 the Isle of Man, it is of importance to attend to their distinc- 

 tion. This will be immediately seen, by comparing Mr Bur- 

 man's beautiful delineation of the head of the fosil Irish elk, 

 (see Plate II. Fig. 1,) with his outline of the horn of the 

 Norwegian elk. But Cuvier has been the most successful in 

 pointing out the difference that subsists between these animals. 

 He remarks, that the head of the Irish elk resembles that of 

 the Cervus; rather than that of the recent elk, which still ex- 

 ists in the north of Europe, and in America ; for, among 

 other distinctions, he adds, that the former has from sixteen to 

 twenty antlers only, while that of the latter generally amounts 

 to thirty or more. Again, in noticing the branch of the Irish 

 elk, he observes, that the antler at the base of it descends 

 from thence to the forehead, while this peculiarity is not to be 

 detected in the recent elk. The wood of the Irish elk like- 

 wise surpasses, in all its dimensions, that of any other animal 

 bearing the same name. 



Such being the difference that subsists between the fossil 

 Irish and the Scandinavian elk, it is of importance that the 

 former should have a distinctive appellation, especially since 

 the remains of each are liable to be found associated together, 

 as in the Isle of Man. Whittaker has conceived that the 

 Irish elk was the Segh of the ancient Britons, a word that has 

 been interpreted as significant of an animal not only of the 

 ox, but of the mcose kind. But as this view is very conjec- 

 tural, and as the term segh is not a convenient one, the ap- 

 pellation may, with propriety, be abandoned. A name for the 

 Irish elk may, wkh more advantage, be sought for in the 

 works of the learned Aldrovandus. This naturalist was evi- 

 dently much puzzled regarding a gigantic animal, known, as 

 he conceived, to the ancients, that resembled the stag in the 

 shape of its head, and the fallow-deer in that of its horns. 

 While he, therefore, distinguishes this animal from the Scandi- 

 navian elk, he adds, that besides our common fallow-deer, there 

 was what may be described as a palmated stag, of which mention 

 ifi made by Julius Capitolinus, in these words: " Gordiani 

 sylva memorabilis picta in domo rostrata Cn. Pompeii picturas 



