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On Fossil Antlers of the Roebuck and Gigantic Irish Elk, 

 found at Coldingham, in 1859. By James Hardy. 



[With a Plate.] 



In October, 1859, while cutting a new course for a small burn, 

 called the Court Burn, that runs through the Weavers' or 

 Tumbling Down Green in Coldingham, close by the foot-path 

 that passes to the east of the Glebe, the workmen came upon 

 two antlers of the Deer family, imbedded at the depth of five 

 or six feet amidst a deposit of gravel, earth, and large boulders, 

 similar in appearance to those collections of water-worn stones 

 and pebbles that underlie the common soil in many parts of 

 Berwickshire. These remains Mr. Wilson of Coldingham 

 kindly procured for my inspection. They are of much interest, 

 being, it is believed, the first fossils detected in the Berwick- 

 shire superficial gravels ; and one of them, — the Irish Elk, is 

 as yet unrepresented in Scottish formations.* One of the 

 antlers is nearly perfect. It is that of the Roe-buck f Cervus 

 Capreolus.J It corresponds in form with the antler of the 

 sixth year, in fig. 203, of Professor Owen's "History of Fossil 

 Mammals, and Birds." The specimen is coated with a red- 

 dish soil ; the root and the apex of the first snag are fractured ; 

 in other respects it bears few marks of having been rolled. 

 It is 9 inches long measured along the curve ; 5 inches to the 

 first snag ; and 7 inches to the second. The diameter of the 

 beam is f to 1 inch. The snags are acute ; the first is 1| ; 

 the second and the apical portion If inches long, respectively. 

 The Roe once frequented the Border district in numerous 

 herds, but the present example dates beyond the historical 

 period. In England, as a fossil, it has been found associated 

 with the Mammoth and other extinct forms. 



The antler of the gigantic Irish Elk f Megaceros HihernicusJ 

 is, unfortunately fragmentary ; only the palm with its ramifi- 

 cations having occurred. Externally it still retains some of 

 its native lustre and light brown hue. The hinder side is 

 considerably paler than the front. On the back it is coarsely 

 longitudinally furrowed and ridged. On the front the furrows 

 are waved in the hollow central part but longitudinal else- 

 where. The ridges and furrows are obliterated towards the 

 apices of the branches. The intermediate pair stand on an 

 advanced base, are shortest and straightest, nearly correspond 

 in length and size, and taper from the base to the apex. The 



* Can the following refer to it? In Maxwell's " Hill- Side and Border 

 Sketches," I. p. 317, it is said that, near North-Berwick, " a medal of Trajan, 

 a fibula, a patera, and a horn of a Moose-Deer," were discovered. 



