MEGACEROS HIBEKNICUS. 

 Fig. 188. 



461 



Skull of Female Megaceros, th nat. size. 



antlered sex. The cervical vertebrae are of nearly equal 

 length with those in the male, but are less by one-third in 

 breadth, and the dorsal spines are one-third shorter ; 

 these modifications obviously relate to the non-development 

 of the antlers in the female sex. 



Is there any evidence, it may be asked, that the Me- 

 gaceros coexisted with the human race, or that its ex- 

 tinction was the result of man's hostility ? Dr. Molyneux * 

 says that its extinction in Ireland has occurred " so many 

 ages past, as there remains among us not the least record 

 in writing, or any manner of tradition, that makes so much 

 as mention of its name ; as that most laborious enquirer 

 into the pretended ancient, but certainly fabulous, history of 

 this country, Mr. Roger O'Flaherty, the author of Ogygia, 

 has lately informed me."" 



The term shelch in the romance of the Niebelungen, 

 written in the 13th century, and there applied to one of 

 the beasts slain in a great hunt a few hundred years before 

 that time in Germany, has been cited by Groldfuss, and 

 subsequently by other naturalists, as probably signifying 



* Phil. Trans, xix. p. 490. 



