118 P.M. Kermode — Cervus giganteus in the Isle of Man. 



15 inches, allowing for a piece of the fi'ont edge which has decayed 

 away ; the right measures 13 inches. With the tines restored, they 

 are respectively 56^ inches and 53 inches long, and the beam would 

 have been at least 10 inches more. They show six points or tines, 

 besides the brow-tines, which had fallen off, the part where they 

 joined the beam having decayed away. 



On laying the bones in position I find that the animal must have 

 been about 18 hands or six feet high at the shoulder. The fact of 

 its having antlers shows it to have been a male ; and their size and 

 number of tines, that it was an adult. One of the ribs had been 

 broken, no doubt the result of fighting with another buck in the 

 rutting season, and had healed again. The teeth are in excellent 

 preservation, showing no sign of weakness or decay. The limbs are 

 perfect, all the small bones having, I think, been recovered ; the 

 vertebrae also are sound and appear to be all present. The right 

 shoulder-blade, which lay beneath the other, is badly decayed, as 

 are many of the ribs, but I think they can be pretty well restored, 

 and, but for the missing skull and the beams of the antlers, the 

 bones when articulated and mounted will make a perfect skeleton. 



Having secured this specimen, we continued our excavations in an 

 easterly direction, but very quickly got through the marl, and again 

 found the soil to have been disturbed as far as our trench. 



With regard to the foi'mation in which it was found, the British 

 Association Committee will no doubt have a full report for the 

 meeting at Bristol next September. The result of all the ex- 

 cavations, allowing for the very disturbed state of the ground, 

 shows the following beds : — 



A. Disturbed soil and peat, an average of about 



B. In one place a blue clay or silt was observed resting on the 



white marl. 



C. "White marl, containing the elk-remains ... ... 



D. Blue marl 



E. Eed sand with gravel 

 !F. Brown clay 



G. Sand and gravel | , ^.j . ^ ^.^ 



ii. Clay | 



As stated above, the whole surface had been lowered about three 

 feet in digging for marl ; the peat had for the most part been removed, 

 and a great deal of the marl also ; indeed, we were fortunate in 

 finding this one spot in which the marl itself had not been disturbed. 



The finding of detached bones shows that other individuals of 

 this species had perished here, and is consistent with what we were 

 told, namely, that a specimen had been seen when digging for marl, 

 and that the antlers of yet another had been taken out and sold. 

 We were told also that two skulls without antlers had been seen on 

 the east side of our trench. 



Samples of the marl and other beds were forwarded to Mr. James 

 Bennie of Edinburgh, for preparation and microscopical examination, 

 and so far as we haA'e heard, the peat appears to be an ordinary lake 

 peat, without anything very distinct about it. The marl contains no 



