362 TF. Williams — The Megaceros in Ireland. 



1 found the edges of tlie deer's teeth as sharp as if the animal had 

 died but yesterday ; there are no marks of their having been water- 

 worn ; hence I conclude that nothing but the pressure of ice will 

 account for the breaking of the Afegaceros antlers. As a rule, those 

 found near the surface are those most broken ; when found deeper 

 down, they are much less so, the thick layer of clay having pro- 

 tected them. 



Whether these conditions can be referred to a Glacial period 

 may be questioned ; we have no standard to judge by. No doubt it 

 was far less rigorous than the " Great Ice Age"; but it should be 

 remembered that then, as now, the climate of Ireland was not so 

 severe as that of Scotland, England, or the Continent, and if we 

 could make this time synchronous with the period of severe cold on 

 the Continent, or in Scotland, we have evidence sufiicient to prove 

 that it might properly be called a glacial period. "Whether it caused 

 the extinction of the Megaceros in Ireland may be questioned. It is 

 a subject that cannot be proved. All we can do is to arrive at a 

 strong probability. The total absence of human implements or 

 remains in these clays goes far to prove that man had hardly 

 appeared in Ireland ; hence it is highly improbable that the Mega- 

 ceros was exterminated by man ; but when we find that in no 

 instance has it been found in the peat, nor have I ever found it in 

 this glacial clay No. 4, then it becomes highly probable that this 

 bed of clay marks the limit of the existence of the Megaceros in 

 Ireland, no doubt by this time insulated, so that it could not have 

 escaped by migration. 



Probably a dam existed at the south end of the lake. This was 

 afterwards cut through by ice, thus draining both the lakes. No 

 evidence remains of the dam, except the old water-line several feet 

 higher along the hill-sides. Thus the lake had not only been silted 

 up, but had been naturally drained and afterwards left brim 'full of 

 alluvium, in fact a swamp, in which Sphagnum, EquisetacecB and other 

 marsh plants could grow and lay the foundation of a true peat-bog. 



After examining Ballybetagh, I was anxious to explore other bogs, 

 to ascertain if they would tell the same story. The next one visited 

 was Craggah near Balla, Co. Mayo. It is 150 miles from the former 

 place. Here I found perfect accord in the appearance and order of 

 the beds, first the tough bottom clay, in which the animals were mired, 

 the marl bed in which it is found, and the glacial bed just under the 

 peat, just as at Ballybetagh, with this difference, that instead of being 

 greyish, it is a chocolate-brown, as it was derived from the Coal- 

 measures at the upper end of the valley. Seeing this accord in the 

 deposits in places 150 miles apart, I was led to seek for a general 

 cause, and concluded that the cause was not a local one, but due to 

 climatic changes wide in their operation. The next year I visited 

 several bogs in Co. Limerick, with similar results; they confirmed 

 me in my conclusions, that in these deposits we have a reliable 

 record of the changes of climate which have occurred from the times 

 of the deposition of the boulder-clays, and till the peat-bogs began 

 to grow over and cover up the old lake-basins. 



