494 FOSSIL ELK OF IRELAND. 



the palm the horn undergoes a kind of twist, the effect 

 of which on the palm is, to place its edges above and be- 

 low, and its surfaces anterior and posterior ; the anterior 

 surface is convex, and looks outwards ; the posterior is 

 concave, and its surface looks towards that of the oppo- 

 site palm. Such is the position of the horns, when the 

 head is so placed that the zygomatic arch is parallel to 

 the horizon, as it would be during progression, or whilst 

 the animal stands in an easy posture. 



The antlers are the long pointed processes which pro- 

 ject from the horns, two of which grow from the beam 

 anteriorly ; the first comes off immediately from the root, 

 and is directed downwards, overhanging the orbit ; this 

 is called the brow antler, which, in this specimen, is di- 

 vided into two points at its extremity *. 



The other antler, which comes off from the beam, we 

 may call the sur-antler : in this specimen it consists of a 

 broad plate or palm, concave on its upper surface, hori- 

 zontal in its direction, and forked into two points ante- 

 riorly, an appearance which I have not observed in any 

 other specimen of upwards of forty which I have seen, 

 nor do I find it marked in any of the plates of those 

 bones extant. 



There is one antler given off posteriorly from the junc- 

 tion of the beam with the palm : it runs directly back- 

 wards parallel to the corresponding one of the opposite 

 horn. The inferior edge of the palm beyond this runs 



4ij 



* I have seen this antler dirided into three points in two specimens, 

 one at the Earl of Besborough's, county Kilkenny (which measured 

 eight feet four inches between the tips), the other in the hall of the 

 Museum of Trinity College : it is single in the greater number of spe- 

 cimens, as in those which Cuvier describes. 



