On the Recent and Extinct Irish Mammals. 65 
THE WOLF (Canis lupus). 
The. Wolf, which onlv became extinct in Ireland at the com- 
mencement of last century survived its brethren of Scotland and 
England. 
The bone cavern of Shandon has furnished undoubted remains 
of the species, in conjunction with the Fox, Horse, Reindeer, Red 
Deer, Grisley Bear, Hare, and Mammoth. 
With reference to its contemporaniety with the Irish Elk there 
ean be little doubt, although the remains of the two have not been 
found in the same strata which is not at all likely, seeing that 
the majority of the deer were mired. However, the probability 
is that many of the Elks were driven into the lakes by packs of 
wolves. Moreover, as far as yet known, it was the only large 
carnivore in Ireland, and was extremely plentiful in bistoric 
times; there is every likelihood, therefore, that it preyed extensively 
on the larger ungulates both before and during the recent period. 
Archdeacon Maunsell, referring to the magnificent skeleton of 
the Irish Elk discovered by him, and now in the Museum of 
Science and Art, Dublin,* mentions also “skulls of a dog of a large 
kind (or atleast of a carnivorous animal) found close to the cervine 
remains.” But as there is no evidence of man having been con- 
temporaneous with the Irish Elk, the probability is that these 
crania may have belonged to wolves or bears. 
The fragment of a left lower jaw, from Shandon Cave, con- 
taining the first five molars is represented in Plate I I 
compared the above with the same parts in recent species from 
Russia and the fossil remains from Kent’s Hole, near Torquay, 
and found a very close agreement between all of them. The 
Shandon cavern produced remains of several individuals, and was 
doubtless a resort of packs of wolves, which either dragged in the 
cervine remains or fed on thecarcases of animals which died in that 
great shelter shed, It is noteworthy, and at the same time a good 
illustration of how an animal once plentiful may disappear, and 
leave very few traces behind it, that the above and a few other 
bones found by me in the same situation are the only known in- 
stances of remains of wolves having been found in Ireland, 
although we know from history that the animal was very com- 
* Hart on the Skeleton of the Fossil Deer of Ireland. Dublin, 1825. 
Scien. PROC, K.D,8., Vou. I, Pr. 1 EF 
