Scharkk, Seymour, and Nkwton — Castlepook Cave. 65 



it is extremely doubtful whether the latter ever was inhabited by human 

 beings. 



Hitherto very few bones of young Irish Elk have been identified, and we 

 may suppose that they were more successful in escaping the persecution of 

 their enemies than the adults. In Castlepook Cave, however, a few remains 

 of very young Irish Elk were noticed, such as the proximal part of a shed 

 right antler (M.D. 257), a left astragalus (M.D. 233), and a distal fragment 

 of a metatarsal (M.D. 100). One of the most interesting discoveries made 

 during these excavations is a left third lower milk pre-molar tooth of a large 

 deer (M.D. 102), larger than that of either Red Deer or Reindeer. I consider 

 this tooth to be that of a young Irish Elk. If this view is correct, it is the 

 first example of a milk tooth of the Irish Elk known. 



HORSE (Equns caballus). 



There was no evidence in this cave of the occurrence of the Wild Ilorse. 

 The only remains of horses that were exhumed had evidently dropped into 

 the cave from the field above, where the animals were probably buried within 

 modern times. Only in one instance was the bone of a horse found together 

 with Reindeer and Mammoth ; but there were reasons to believe that the 

 Horse had recently dropped into the excavation. In one other instance 

 Horse and Wolf were found together. Some of the Horse remains may, 

 therefore, be a few centuries old when the Wolf still lived in Ireland. 



The bones identified as belonging to the Horse formed part of at least two 

 individuals. The older one (M.D. 39) was a small pony, very aged and badly 

 affected with " spavin " on the right hind limb. The other (M.D. 18, 25, &c.) 

 was a large agricultural horse of modern type. 



Pig (Sus domesticus). 



Another peculiarity of this cave is the complete absence of the Wild Boar. 

 In all the other Irish caves examined, except Shandon, there were many 

 bones and teeth of either wild or domestic pigs. In this cave only a few teeth 

 of young pigs were met with (M.D. 112, 117, 119, and 122), and a single 

 immature skull fragment (M.D. 25). All these were evidently quite 

 modern, and must have been recently introduced into the cave by dogs or 

 foxes. 



Frog [Rana tcmporaria). 



The Common Frog has at present a wide distribution in Ireland, and is 

 probably a native in spite of the assertions to the contrary. In the Castle- 

 pook caves frog remains occurred in eight places, one of them being in the 



B.I.A. PROC, VOL. XXXIV, SECT. B. [I\ 



