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XI—ON AN ATTEMPT TO ELUCIDATE THE HISTORY OF 
THE CHRVUS MEGACEROS, COMMONLY CALLED THE 
IRISH ELK. By W. WILLIAMS. 
[Read March 18, 1878.] 
In the year 1875 Mr. R. J. Moss made excavations at Ballybetagh 
in search of remains of the great horned Deer, Megaceros Hiber- 
nicus. He was very successful in his search, the results of which 
are recorded in the Proceedings of the Royal Trish Academy (Vol. 
11, Second Series, p. 547). Having heard of his success, I en- 
gaged in a similar search in the same locality in the summers of 
1876 and 1877, with equally successful results, having found 
twenty-six heads and three skeletons. While thus engaged, the 
following questions were impressed upon my mind :— 
1st.—The immediate cause of the death of those animals whose 
remains we found. 
2nd.—The geological time in which they existed. 
- 3rd.—The probable cause of the extinction of the whole race. 
As I conceive I discovered evidence that seems to throw light 
on these points, I desire to bring the matter before this Society. 
The Bog of Ballybetagh is situated in a small valley, lying 
between some outlying hills south-east of the Three-Rock 
Mountain, about nine miles south-east of Dublin. It is at an 
elevation of nearly 800 feet above the sea-level, and is bounded 
east and west by low granite hills, the valley itself running northand 
south towards the Glencullen river. Two small lakes seem to have 
occupied the bottom of this valley. The larger one was seated inthe 
northern end; the smaller one at a higher level, lying south of the 
larger, but it seems to have been connected with it, and to have 
received the flow of water from the larger lake, discharging it 
into the Glencullen river. The remains have been found mostly 
in what was the bed of the smaller lake. The lakes have been 
both silted up, and are now pasture land. 
After removing two or three feet of peat, in which occur trees 
of oak and alder, we arrive at clay (No. 3). The bed is about 
thirty inches thick, and is homogeneous in its character. It is of 
