Observations on the Mammoth. 61 



ble matters, which seem worthy of our notice in 

 this place : and the more so, as this gentleman's pa- 

 per seems not to have excited any attention among 

 the modern writers on the exuviae of animals found in 

 countries, in which the living animals themselves are 

 no longer seen. Some extravagant conjectures are mix- 

 ed with Mr. Nevil's account : but these do not, in 

 the least, invalidate the truth of what he says, relative 

 to the bed upon which the Irish elephant was laid. 



•* The place (saj-s he) where this monster lay, 

 was thus prepared, which makes me believe it had 

 been buried, or that it had lain there since the de- 

 luge. It was about four foot under ground, with a 

 little rising above the superficies of the earth, which 

 was a plain under the foot of a hill, and about thirty 

 yards from the brook* or thereabout. The bed where- 

 on it lay had been laid with fern, with that sort of 

 rushes here called sprits, and with bushes intermixed. 

 Under this was a stiff blew clay on which the teeth 

 and bones were found : above this was first a mixture 

 of yellow clay and sand much of the same colour ; un- 

 der that a fine white sandy clay which was next to 

 the bed : the bed was for the most part a foot thick, 

 and in some places thicker, with a moisture clear 

 through it ; it lay sad and close, and cut much like 

 turf, and would divide into flakes, thicker or thinner 

 as you would ; and in every layer the seed of the 

 rushes was as fresh as if new pulled, so that it was in 



• <( 



A small brook that parts the counties of Cavaii and Moii- 



aghan. 



