60 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



in Ireland at the same time as the carnivores alluded to. Mr. Ussher quite 

 concurred in this opinion. In view of the fact that some authorities have 

 urged that the Reindeer could not have lived in the British Islands contem- 

 poraneously with the Hysena, this result of the Castlepook Cave exploration 

 is alone of great importance. The Bear, Hyaena, and "Wolf may all have had 

 their share in this Reindeer feast, but the Bear, to judge from its modern 

 representatives, is largely a vegetable feeder, while the scantiness of Wolf 

 remains indicates that the "Wolf did not make much use of the cave as a 

 shelter. Hence, most of the bodies of Reindeer were probably dragged into 

 the cave by the Hyaena, Indeed, Reindeer and flysena bones occurred in the 

 same deposit in the cave in no less than thirty-two sites. Moreover many 

 thousands of Reindeer bones were broken into small splinters by the action 

 of powerful teeth, and in many cases the marks of teeth were clearly visible 

 on the bones. I exhibited Bomeof these bones at a meeting of the Zoological 

 Society of London in 1909 1 with a view to eliciting the opinion of some of 

 the members of that Society on these tooth-marks, It was thought by several 

 of those present that while rodents might have produced some of the marks 

 the Reindeer themselves may have gnawed the bones, as deer are known to 

 do so. A few of the tooth-marks, especially those on the Reindeer antlers, 

 may be due to the lattei cause, but on closer examination I find that there 

 are three distinct types of tooth-marks. The most prevalent of these seems 

 to have been produced by rodents ; and it is certain (compare Ussher's 

 remarks, p. 43) that some of these tooth-marks, if not all, were produced at 

 the time when the bones found their way into I They may thus be 



the work of Lemmings. Some, on the other hand, were clearly caused by 

 larger carnivores — perhaps by young Bi I [yaenas. 



To judge from th _ numberof bones of Reindeer in this cave, it would 

 seem that we ought to be able to gather some information as to the Irish race or 

 variety of this species. Unfortunately the limb-bones of the Reindeer do not 

 differ appreciably in the various varieties. The more subtle features by which 

 races of Mammals can be distinguished lie almost entirely in the skull. The 

 antlers are very characteristic in the different species of deer. Even races and 

 varieties have been distinguished by them. Mr. Lydekker, 2 for instance, 

 relies upon the shape of the antlers alone in his descriptions of the varieties 

 of Reindeer. Other authorities, such as Professors Nitsche, Camerano,' and 



1 Proc. Zoological Society, London, vol. i. p. 204. 1009. 



2 Lydekkur, 1:. : " Note on a Reindeer Skull from Xovaia Zemlia." Proc. Zool. Soc, 

 London, vol. ii, pp. 360 362. 1902. 



' Camerano, L. : " Ricerche intomo alle Renne delle isole Spitzberghe." Memorie 

 d. Acad. d. Scienze Torino, vol. ii. pp. 169 240, 1002. 



