Porte — On Remains of Ccrvus Megaceros. 739 



I am aware, tliey have hitherto, with one exception,* been found only 

 in extinct lakes ; and even in these they never occur in the vegetable 

 mould forming the upper stratum or bog, but always in sedimentary 

 marl, or blue clay, which underlies the bog ; and when both these 

 deposits exist in the same basin, the remains are generally found 

 imbedded in the marl, and resting on the hlue clay : the present being 

 (so far as I am aware) the first instance of their being found resting 

 on the bottom of the basin. 



In the marl or in the blue clay they have been found at different 

 depths in different basins, and- sometimes even in the same basin, in- 

 dicating that they were deposited at different periods during the 

 formation of the stratum : and hence naturalists have been led to attri- 

 bute the death of the animals to "miring" during their struggles with 

 their predaceous enemies. 



This hypothesis is probably in some instances correct, but it is 

 •difficult to reconcile it with the often observed fact of the wide dis- 

 persion of the bones, and still more with another well-known fact, 

 namely — that heads and antlers are frequently found where no other 

 parts of the skeleton can be discovered. 



There is at first sight an apparent coincidence between the situation 

 of these remains and that of most others previously discovered, but 

 the coincidence is only apparent, while it is a real exception to the 

 general rule. It is true that these have been found (as usual) in the 

 basin of an extinct lake, but they have not been found in any lacustrine 

 deposit, hut under them all, in actual contact with the sandy clay which 

 formed the original surface of the valley. 



Purthermore, they presented to me the appearance of having 

 been for a long time knocked about among stones, whereby they were 

 much abraded and broken up before they got into still water ; the de- 

 tached parts have not in any case been found, so as to be identified. 

 They also appeared to have been forced down between the boulders 

 by some great vertical pressure, but not by the gradually increasing 

 pressure resulting from the slow accumulation of lacustrine deposits. 

 Moreover, the stratum lying immediately over them did not appear to 

 me to be lacustrine at all, but more like the surrounding surface soil, 

 and probably the result of a land-slip, or flood. 



If the above views be correct, it appears almost certain that the 

 remains were deposited where found, hefore the lake or tarn was formed ; 

 for had it existed even for a short time previously, some sediment would 

 have been formed beneath the bones, but there was none. 



In the next place it excludes the possilility that the animals were 

 " mired ; " had they been so, the remains would have been found in the 

 lacustrine strata, and not entirely under them all, as above described ; 



* The exception above referred to is the discovery of a skeleton in di-ift sand 

 (in 1828) above the Enniskerry river, which is separated from Ballybetagh by the 

 ■Scalp range of hills. 



