464 CERVUS. 



rightly indicate the circumstances under which the wound 

 of the Megaceros was inflicted, they would be those which 

 best accord with the actual evidence of recovery from it. 



The Earl of Enniskillen has transmitted to me specimens 

 of carpal and tarsal bones of the Megaceros diseased with 

 exostosis ; and there is in his Lordship's collection a lower 



Fig. 190. 



Diseased lower jaw of the Megaceros, from shell-marl, Ireland. 



jaw of the same extinct species, from which a large part of 

 the outer wall has exfoliated, probably in consequence of 

 a blow received in combat at the rutting-season ; a con- 

 siderable amount of new irregular osseous matter has been 

 formed to replace the lost portion of bone. Cut 190 

 gives a figure of this interesting example of primseval 

 disease. 



To my enquiries as to the places whence the numerous 

 specimens of the Megaceros which I have examined in 

 travelling through both North and South of Ireland, had 

 been obtained, the reply was usually from such or such a 

 bog ; but I met with no person who had seen them in the 

 peat itself. In every case where more definite information 

 was afforded by an eye-witness of their discovery, it ap- 

 peared that the antlers and bones had been dug out of 



