17 8 



Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



above fauna may not be out of place. The fauna consists of only a few 

 species, viz. : — 



Mephas primigenius. 



Bangifer. 



Alec gigantais. 1 



Ursus. 



Hyaena cronda. 



Vitlpes. 



Mammoth, 

 Reindeer; 



Gigantic Irish Deer, 



Bear, 



Spotted Hyaena, 



Fox, 



Arctic Fox, 



Wolf, . . 



Irish Hai-e (or similar form), 



Lemming, 

 Arctic Lemming, 



Wood Mouse, 



Vidpes alopex. 

 Canis. 

 Lepus. 

 Zcmmus. 



Dierostonyx, usually D. hcnscli, but 



Hinton informs me that 



I). guUclmi probably occurs in 



the Edenvale Cave of Co. Clare. 



Apodcmus ; 



and possibly one or two living species also. 2 

 This was a very poor fauna as compared with that of England in similar 

 times, as represented in Ightham fissure, and there seems little doubt that 

 further discoveries are before us when other deposits have been investigated. 

 The main point to note is that the ranges of all its constituents, except the 

 Bear, Wolf (still successful types where not exterminated by man), Fox, and 

 Wood Mouse have in recent times become very much restricted. The 

 Mammoth and the Irish Deer 3 are extinct, the Beindeer, the Arctic Fox, 

 and the two Lemmings have retired to the polar lands ; the Varying Hares 

 ought also to be placed in the latter category, although they have managed to 

 maintain isolated colonies in mountainous regions such as Scotland or the 

 Alps, or in islands such as Ireland. The Spotted Hyaena has retreated to 

 Africa, and only the Wood Mice remain widespread throughout Europe. 



1 Alee, Blumenbach, 1799 ; Megaloceros, Brookes, 1828; Megaceros, Owen, 1844. 



- Bones of eats occur in recent strata of Irish caves, and have been identified by Seharff with the 

 North African Felis ocreata. But as the latter is only a sub-species of the European Wild Cat, 

 F. syhestris, I cannot accept this identification, nor do I know how the bones of the Xorth African 

 form of Wild Cat can he distinguished. I have unfortunately been, as yet, unable to examine the 

 Irish feline bones described by Scharff, and cannot, therefore, give any detailed opinion on them. If 

 tliey are not the bones of domestic animals, they probably represent a distinct Irish Cat, to which no 

 more appropriate name could be given than that of Felis scharffii. 



3 The influence of man, who was undoubtedly a contemporary of at least the Irish Deer, 

 Reindeer, and Bear, and, by inference, of the whole fauna, must also betaken into account ; but 

 there is a strong probability that man too became extinct with the other animals, as shown by the 

 gap between British neolithic and palaeolithic records. 



