1847.] OWEN ON ENGLISH FOSSIL REMAINS OF MEGACEROS. 43 
mains had been found in different parts of England, in caves and 
stratified deposits, showing its equal antiquity with the extinct Mam- 
mals of the newer pliocene period; and, secondly, that there was no 
good evidence of its having ever existed in England or in Ireland con- 
temporaneously with Man,—have been called in question in a pam- 
phlet by H. D. Richardson, Esq., entitled ‘Facts concerning the 
Natural History, &c. of the Gigantic Irish Deer,’ 8vo, 1846 ; and 
in letters by Messrs. Nolan and Glennon published in the ‘Dublin 
Evening Post,’ Nov. 14, 1846, and by the editor of the ‘ Dublin 
Farmers’ Gazette’ of November 28th, 1846. 
Mr. Richardson affirms that the specimens described (Phil. Trans. 
1746, vol. xliv. pt.i.) and in my ‘British Fossil Mammalia,’ pp.466, 467, 
as having been found in England, had been previously ‘“‘sen¢ over from 
Ireland” (p.41). He makes the same statement with regard to those 
described by Cuvier as having been found in diluvian deposits on the 
continent of Europe, and he affirms “that the ‘skeleton found in the 
Isle of Man,’ and now in the Edinburgh University, was not originally 
found in the Isle of Man,”’ but “was brought from Ireland.” (2b. p.38.) 
Leaving to those who have more immediate interest in the conti- 
nental and Manx specimens to verify the current and accepted history 
of the place of their discovery, if they deem the counter-assertions in 
the pamphlet quoted to call for further mvestigation, I may be ex- 
cused for repeating, with regard to the specimens cited in my work as 
having been discovered at Walton in Essex, at Hilgay in Norfolk, and 
in Kent’s Hole, Devon, that they presented the same degree of fossili- 
zation, the same specific gravity, colour and other physical characters, 
as those of the bones and teeth of the Mammoths, Rhinoceroses, and 
other extinct Mammals found in the same formations and localities, 
although the concurrent affirmations of our esteemed fellow-members 
John Brown, Esq. and Whickham Flower, Esq., with that of the late 
Rev. Mr. M‘Enery, stand in no need of such corroborative testimony 
from the fossils themselves. I have since received additional evidence 
of the coexistence of the fossil remains of the Megaceros with the 
extinct Mammals in the pleistocene brick-earth of Essex. 
Mr. Ball, a diligent and successful collector from those deposits, has 
from time to time submitted to my inspection series of fossils obtained. 
from the brick-fields at Grays-Thurrock and Ilford, including remains 
of Elephas, Rhinoceros, Ursus, Hyena, Equus, Bos, Sus, &c. In one 
of these collections was the os frontis and the bases of the great antlers 
of the Megaceros, showing the beginning of their characteristic ex- 
pansion or ‘palm,’ the origin of the brow-antler, and every mark of 
agreement with the corresponding parts in specimens of Megaceros 
hibernicus from the subturbary marls of Ireland, with which it also 
agreed in size. The fragment of skull showed the characteristic 
transverse bar or rising between the origins of the antlers. The phy- 
sical characters of the specimens, resulting from change of original 
texture through long interment, were precisely those of the associated 
fossils of other pleistocene Mammals. The specimen is now in the 
Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, London. 
Since I examined these remains, Dr. Cotton, of Bolton-street, 
