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all the small carnivora, it was called in the native tongue, a dog, Mad- 
aidh crainn, ‘the tree dog,”’ or cat crainn, “ the tree cat.’’ The stoat and 
the weasel (mustela erminea), called in Irish Planaid or Easég, stall 
remain, although under the game and vermin laws they are yearly de- 
creasing.* 
Of the cervine race Ireland boasts the most magnificent example, in 
either a fossil or recent state, which the world has yet produced—the 
gigantic Irish deer or fossil elk (Cervus megaceros Hibernicus) ; but 
whether that noble animal, which formerly traversed our plains and 
feeding pastures, coexisted with man, is questionable; most naturalists 
affirming that it did not, while the opinion of antiquarians rather tends 
the other way. The argument adopted by the former is, that the 
strata of calcareous tufa and shell marl in which the bones are almost 
invariably found are pre-Adamite, or were formed anterior to man’s oc- 
cupation of this island. But if the discoveries lately said to be made in 
the gravel drifts at Abbeville in France should prove true, this theory 
respecting our Irish fossil deer is untenable ; moreover, these investiga- 
tions show either that man is much older, or several fossils much 
younger than is usually supposed. Itis, however, remarkable that as yet 
we have not discovered any Irish name for it. If the animal was here 
a contemporary of man, it certainly had become extinct long before 
the Irish had a knowledge of letters. In the collection of crude ani- 
mal remains belonging to the Academy will be found the crania of no 
less than sixteen specimens of our greatest cervine animal, besides many 
detached fragments of skeletons. They are said by the district engi- 
neers to the Board of Works to have been found in the counties of Fer- 
managh, Cavan, Leitrim, Monaghan, and Roscommon; but under what 
precise circumstances discovered, and whether in peat, clay, or marl, 
has been stated in only a few instances. Others were found in the 
Shannon, but where, was not specified. Most of them were presented 
by the Shannon Commissioners or the Board of Works. 
The following is a catalogue of these remains now belonging to the 
Academy, amounting altogether to upwards of 50 specimens, complete 
or fragmentary. 
No. 1. A head and a portion of the horns in tolerable preservation, 
but wanting several of the tines of the latter; brow antlers deficient. 
The label attached to it states that ‘it was found six feet below the 
land surface, imbedded in blue marl, eighteen inches beneath the over- 
lying peat at a quick turn of the River Erne, below Cloggy Bridge, in 
the county of Cavan; in the excavation of the channel made under the 
direction of the Drainage Department of the Board of Works, Decem- 
ber, 1851.” 
No. 2. A head and part of the horns, the latter tolerably perfect, 
but the former wanting a portion of the superior maxillary bone on the 
right side; one brow antler remaining. Breadth of the palm only nine 
— 
* Hs is the ancient word, of which easég is a derivative. See O’Flaherty’s Iar Con- 
naught, p. 10. ; 
