R. H. Scott — Irish Fossil Mammalia. 415 



of Mr. Cooke, of Parsonstown, and is now in the British Museum. It 

 was found in deepening a river near Colonel Bernard's property, in 

 the King's County. These casts are now at the Eoyal Dublin Society 

 These skulls Dr. Ball pronounced to be those of the brown Bear, 

 TJ. arctos, and in this opinion he was confirmed by Professor Owen, 

 to whom he submitted casts of the skulls. 



Mr. Gray discovered the skull of a bear, as described in the ac- 

 companying letter : — 



" Clonliffe Parade, January 24, 1863. 



" My Dear Doctor, — The bear's head, to which you referred in your letter of the 

 10th instant, was found a little above Leinster Bridge, in the barony of Carberry, and 

 county of Kildare. It was imbedded in peat or sand, about 4 feet below the surface, 

 in a sort of valley or hollow, through which the Eiver Boyne flowed ; and if you 

 refer to the fifth volume of the ' Proceedings of the Eoyal Irish Academy,' p. 53 of 

 the Appendix, you will find a report of mine, describing a lot of articles found while 

 engaged in the arterial drainage of some important rivers in Kildare, Meath, "West- 

 meath, and the King's County. These are all in some degree descriptive of the 

 locality ; and if you are following up the subject, you may derive some ideas from the 

 facts I have stated. The bear's head was got along with a great quantity of the 

 bones and heads of the deer ; and they were collected together in a position that 

 would give the idea of their having been floated together, and deposited in an eddy 

 or still bend of the river. There were a quantity of the bear's bones along with the 

 head when it was found, but they were destroyed by the men who found them, 

 although they were not much decomposed. Some of them were very short and 

 strong — not such as you mentioned to me, but were, perhaps, nine inches in circum- 

 ference, and about 15 inches in length. They were destroyed by the men having 

 used them to knock the earth out of the barrows, etc., by striking them till broken. 



" There was no marl in the neighbourhood. If you refer to page 35 of Appendix 

 to vol. V. of the Royal Irish Academy's ' Proceedings,' before referred to, you will 

 have a description of the locality. The bone dirk (No. 15) alluded to was found 

 about half a mile or less below where the bear's head was got, and in the same 

 river-course. 



" I suppose you have seen the skull ; it is in th,e Museum of the Academy, and I 

 suspect about the most perfect of its class. Any other information I can afford you 

 relative to such matters will afford me much pleasure ; and I trust you will excuse 

 my not having replied to your letter before this. — ^ Yours faithfully, 



"William Frazer, Esq., M.D." " Richard A. Gray. 



It was presented by him to the Eoyal Irish Academy, among the 

 donations from the Board of Works, and is now at the Eoyal Dublin 

 Society. It is figured by Sir W. Wilde.^ 



In March, 1859, Mr. Brenan and Dr. Carte discovered some re- 

 mains of TJ. arctos ; among others, a mutilated cranium, in the cave 

 at Dungarvan.^ The other bones were — the left lower jaw, the 

 atlas, two cervical, two dorsal, and two lumbar vertebras, with several 

 broken ribs. 



About the year 1860, Mr. Going,^ of Violet Hill, Broadford, 



1 "Proceedings of the the Royal Irish Academy," vol. v., App., 54, vii. 



2 "Journal of the Royal Dublin Society," vol. ii., p. 451. 



^ On applying to Mr. Going for further information on this subject, I received the 

 following letter, which he has kindly permitted me to print : — 



"Violet Hill, Broadford, June 20, 1864. 



" Sir, — I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the l7th inst., and will 

 feel happy at affording you all the information I can relative to the finding of the 

 animal remains you allude to in this locality. 



" Some years since, my men, in draining a small boggy hollow, found a quantity 

 of bones under the bog, in the blue clay. The bones were evidently those of some 

 animal much larger than any dog, being stronger in proportion to their length, and 



