tnAT<rrs asd pigmies. 



88 



tTie insertion into the skull is eight inches. In other parts, 

 •seven, six, five inches. Tl>e lower branches are brok-en off; it 

 terminates at the third. It Ims evidently been shed, not broken 

 -off. The nienagcriij of the Crystal Palace Island has a restora- 

 tion. Its gigantic companion, M^ffacros Iliheniicus, is also 

 restored in the same collection. See list in No. 23. In several 

 inuseums -of London, e.g., Royal College of Snrgeoiis, and 

 Museum of Ntitural History, Kensington, and Museums olf 

 ©ublin, etc., the Great Irish Elk is a prominent member. I 

 had previously regarded our Moose as the largest of the Deet 

 family. In presence of the skeleton of its extinct ancestor, it 

 assumes niockrate proportions. A skeleton figured by Owen, 

 has height of 10 feet 4 inches. 'J'lie span of its palmated 

 antlers from the extreme tip^^ is 8 feet. It is from tiiese that 

 lie has his name Megaceros, and his surpassing height. Its 

 Sleight from the ground to the top of the longest dorsal spine is 

 •6 feet. The corresponding height of the moose is about 5 feet, 

 -or 5 feet € inches. They seem to have abounded in Ireland. 

 The first tolerably perfect skeleton was found in th-e Isle of 

 Man, and was presented by the Duke of Athol to the Edin- 

 'burgh Musuera Cuvier's figure in •*' Ossemens Fossiles " is 

 ■taken from an -engraving of this skeleton furnished by Professor 

 Jamieson. He named it Cervns Metjaceros. Tlie name 

 Meyaceroe Hilwrniens, oi'iginally applied by Dr. Carte, of 

 Dublin, is regarded as tl>e proper name. The shell- marl* of 

 5l»thcannon has produced abundance of remains. They are 

 jfound in bogs, but not in tl>e peat itself. Owen says the 

 following account of the situation of remains given by Mr. 

 James Kelly, -dated Downpatri<:k, Dec. 22nd, 1725, is most 

 instructive .id precise. "For the first three feet we met 

 with a fuzzy kind of earth, that we call moss, proper to make 

 'turf for fuel ; then we find a stratum of gravel about half a 

 foot ; under which, for about three feet more kindly moss, that 

 would niak-e a more excellent fuel ; this is mixed with timber 

 ■so rotten as to be easily <int with the spade, under this for a 

 •depth of three inches, we find leaves for the most part oaken 

 that appear fair to the eye, but will not boar a touch. Under 

 1,his is a stratum of blue clay, half a ioot thick, fully mixed 



