p. M. Kermode — Cervus giganteus in the Isle of Man. 117 



September portions of what appeared to be a perfect speoimea 

 were disclosed in the undisturbed marl. 



The dub, or old marl-pit, in question, lies in a hollow in the 

 glacial drifts, about half a mile south of the Peel Road Railway 

 Station, on the east side of and close to the line. It had about 

 sixty years ago been worked for marl, and the present well-defined 

 banks mark out a rectangular hollow about three feet below the 

 surrounding surface, measuring about fifty yards square. 



Across one corner of this a trench was dug to carry off the 

 water, and the operations of the Committee were confined to 

 a triangular area on the west side of the" trench, measuring about 

 15 yards east and west by 30 yards north and south. We 

 excavated all over this space to a depth of nine feet and more. The 

 first four excavations being through ground which had previously 

 been disturbed yielded no definite results, but at one point, about 

 10 yards from the north bank and 8 yards from the west, a feAv 

 elk-bones were met with in the disturbed soil. These and some 

 other bones were submitted to Professor Boyd - Dawkins for 

 examination, and he finds among them, belonging to this species, 

 fragments of maxilla, the sixth cervical vertebra, the second lumbar 

 vertebra, and a fragment of a rib. 



The last excavation, about the centre of our area, brought us to 

 the undisturbed marl at a depth of about three feet. On testing 

 this I found it to extend to a depth of 10 feet 6 inches at a point 

 about eight yards east of the bank, but four yards nearer to the 

 bank it did not reach a greater depth than eight feet. Between this 

 and the bank it appeared to have been disturbed. 



In this bed of white marl, at a depth of about nine feet from the 

 surface, we found the remains of a complete skeleton, lying on its 

 right side, the head towards the bank, the legs drawn up to the 

 body. We considered it necessai-y to get it out the same day 

 (Saturday), as already many people had been to the place the 

 previous evening, and some one had broken off a piece of the 

 exposed antler. Had time allowed we should have endeavoured 

 to have cleared away the marl from around the bones and had 

 them entirely disclosed and photographed. Time, however, did 

 not allow of this, and as it was very wet we probably should not 

 have succeeded anyhow. Deemster Gill, Mr. Crellin, the Rev. S. N. 

 Harrison, and I therefore took very careful note of the position of 

 the bones as they were gradually uncovered and removed. 



So perfect was the skeleton that we had no difficulty in doing so. 

 The bones were nearly all in juxtaposition and in a fair state of 

 preservation. The left antler had fallen back over the lumbar 

 vertebrie ; it was rather decayed, the tines had fallen off, and the 

 beam was missing. The other antler had dropped down by the 

 cervical vertebrae, and, except for the beam, was in good preserva- 

 tion, but in lifting it from the marl the tines dropped off. Un- 

 fortunately the skull had decayed away and only a portion of the 

 left lower jaw and fragments of the upper jaws remained. 



The left antler is the larger ; it measures across the palm. 



