FOSSIL ELK OF IRELAND. 501 



pear not to be dependent on differences of age. For in- 

 stance, the teeth of the specimen in Trinity College are 

 much more worn down, and the sutures of the skull are 

 more effaced than in the specimen described in this 

 paper ; yet the horns of the latter are much more con- 

 cave, and more expanded, than those of the former ; and 

 on comparing a single horn of each of these specimens 

 together, that belonging to the Society exceeds the other 

 by nearly a sixth in the length, and little less than a 

 third in the breadth ; it is not, therefore, unlikely that the 

 animal whose horns were larger and more curved was a 

 male. Something similar to this is observed in the 

 rein-deer, both sexes of which have horns, but with this 

 difference, that they are smaller and less branched in 

 the female. Hence we find that this animal possessed 

 characters of its own sufficient to prove it of a species 

 as distinct from the moose or elk as this latter species is 

 from the rein-deer or any other. Therefore, it is impro- 

 per to retain the name of elk or moose deer any longer : 

 perhaps it might be better called the Cervus mega- 

 ceros, a name merely expressive of the great size of its 

 horns 



That this animal shed its head furniture periodically, 

 is proved by the occasional occurrence of detached horns 

 having the smooth convex surface below the burr, simi- 

 lar to what is observed on the cast horns of all deer. 

 Specimens of this are to be seen in the Museum of Tri- 

 nity College, and I possess one myself, of which I have 

 had a drawing made. As every other species of deer 

 shed their horns annually, there is no reason for sup- 

 posing that that process occurred at longer intervals in 

 this. 



