418 R. H. Scott — Irish Fossil Mammalia. 



occurrence happened as follows: — In 1837, our office was in the Infantry Barracks, 

 at Belfast. I had attached to my party several assistants, one of whom was the son 

 of Mr. Patrick Doran, the mineral collector, whom I sent to Carrickfergns to collect 

 plants, birds, fossils, etc. In his peregrinations he picked up the tooth in question, 

 on the side of a stream, about a mile or less north-west of the town, on the rising 

 ground towards the mountain. He described it to me as having been partly sticking 

 out from a bed of gravel. I went to see the place afterwards, and, unless the locality 

 be greatly altered since, would easily find it again. I gave the specimen (as was my 

 duty) to General Portlock, who was then the commanding officer of the Geological 

 and Natural History Departments. — Faithfully yours, 



" E. H. Scott, Esq." " D. Moobb." 



Sus. — A great number of Pigs' skulls have been discovered, espe- 

 cially in Lough Gur. These all belong to the old Irish long-faced 

 variety, which is now fast disappearing. Many of them show the 

 mark of the pole-axe on the forehead. 



BovidcB. — As regards the bovine animals, it has long been known 

 that there are in Ireland two well-marked species of Oxen, whose 

 remains are found fossil. 



The gigantic species which is found in England, Bos primigmius^ 

 does not occur here, or at least has not been as yet discovered. The 

 two species which are found, and of which specimens were presented 

 by the Eoyal Irish Academy to the Eoyal Dublin Society, are the 

 Bos frontosus of Nilsson, and the smaller species, Bos longifrons. 

 Several of the skulls exhibit the mark of the pole-axe. 



In a recent communication made to the Eoyal Irish Academy,^ 

 Mr. Blyth stated that the skulls which he found here were exactly 

 similar to those found at Uriconium. 



Cervidce. Cervus alces. — A horn of the true Elk is said by Thomp- 

 son to have been found, in the county of Tyrone, by a relative of his 

 own. It was dug out of a bog near Stewartstown, and was presented 

 to the Natural History Society of Belfast. Mr. Thompson mentioned 

 the discovery in the " Proceedings of the Zoological Society of Lon- 

 don" for 1837, and this notice was copied into his "Natural History 

 of Ireland."^ 



Cervus megaceros. — The instances of the discovery of this animal 



^ " Proceedings of the Eoyal Irish Academy," vol. viii , p. 472. 

 ^ With reference to this, Dr. Carte has received the following letters from Mr. 

 Eobert Patterson, of Belfast, which he has permitted me to print : — 



"Belfast, February 10, 1864. 

 "My Dear Sir, — As my friend, Mr. Hyndman, knew better than myself about 

 "the elk's horn in the Museum, I sent him your letter, and enclose his reply. 



" Dr. Carte." " Yours very sincerely, Egbert Patterson. 



'"February 9, 1864. 



" ' My Dear Sir, — I have examined the elk's horn in the Museum, and I think 

 the freshness of it, and the perfection of the points or tangs, forbid the supposition 

 that it could ever have remained any lengthened time in the bog. Besides the paint 

 upon it, mentioned by Thompson, there is a round hole bored through the broad 

 plate of the horn, showing that at some period it had been put up as an ornament in 

 fiome person's hall. It must have got into its position in the bog by some accident. 



'' 'Eobert Patterson, Esq.' " " ' Yours very truly, George C. Hyndman. 



This opinion of Mr. Hyndman has derived additional confirmation from a com- 

 munication which I have received from a friend of mine, Mr. Bernard E. Eoss, 

 F.R.G.S., of the Hudson's Bay Company's Service, who, on examining the horn, 

 pronounced it to be a North American specimen, and of no great antiquity. 



