THE GIANT IRISH DEER 



It is an interesting fact that the new-born 

 young, both of the Indian and the African 

 elephant have a complete coat of fairly long 

 hair, which disappears in a few weeks. So the 

 mammoth is not really peculiar in this matter. 



In Fig. 63 is shown the skeleton of the largest 

 and most beautiful of all the deer tribe ; it is 

 now extinct, but existed later in Ireland than 

 anywhere else, and in great numbers. The 

 bones are found in the moss and bogs of Ireland. 



It was co-existent with primitive man, and 

 perhaps survived in Ireland till nearly historic 

 times. Why it died out there is a difficult 

 thing to explain. 



As our explorations into the river gravels of 

 only twenty or thirty feet depth have brought 

 us into contact with the mammoth, I propose 

 now to say something more about recent and 

 extinct elephants, and to take a glance at the 

 past history of the elephant tribe. 



Fig. 64 gives a careful restoration of the hairy 

 mammoth as it must have appeared in life, and 

 in Fig. 65 we have a photograph from life of the 

 Indian elephant. In the Indian elephant you 

 should note the comparatively small ear and the 

 high forehead. 



95 



