An attempt to Elucidate the History of the Irish Elk. 107 
2nd.—The exceedingly adhesive nature of the clay of which it 
is composed. 
3rd.—lIts great depth—in fact, it might be called bottomless, 
considering the length of the legs of the animal. 
4th.—The weight of the head and antlers, being nearly 100 lbs., 
would soon put its nose under water when it got mired, and put 
an end to the struggle. 
Thus we can account for the numbers found, by supposing that 
one or two met their death thus each season for say a century or 
so, without concluding that they were destroyed in whole herds at 
once. Hence, if the nature of the bottom of the lake had so 
much to do with their death, I would expect to get no remains 
where the lake bed is composed of gravel; for if they had good 
solid footing they could easily work their way through the lake 
sediment, and escape at the opposite side. 
But an objector may say—if this theory be correct, we should 
find the legs, at least, of each animal, sticking fast in the clay 
where it died. But it is not necessary to come to this conclusion, 
We will suppose the animal to have died standing or floating 
with its feet embedded in the stiff clay as it died, the body, 
with the motion of the waters of the lake, acted on by the wind, 
would sway from side to side. The legs and feet by this means 
would get loosened, and as decomposition set in, the body would 
swell and become more buoyant, while the rains of the following 
winter would raise the level of the surface of the lake, and thus 
draw the legs out of the clay; and acted on by the storms of 
winter, the whole carcase, with the head hanging down, would 
drift to the lee side of the lake, upon which the antlers would 
ground near the margin, and as it were anchor the body. In 
this position I got several heads, with the tines stuck fast in the 
bottom clay, and the palate turned up to the sky. As decom- 
position proceeded, and the flesh became putrid, the head and 
antlers would separate from the axis, the body floating away. As 
the gases escaped, the trunk would quietly settle down, as a whole 
or piecemeal, in other parts of the water. So we seldom find 
whole skeletons in one place, but find the bones scattered broad- 
cast over the bottom of the lake. 
Having disposed of the first question, the cause of death, we 
come to our second. 
