134 THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. Lect. II. 



There is, therefore, presumptive evidence that the last 

 individuals of the race were extirpated by the hunter- 

 tribes who first took possession of these islands. 



Beds of gravel and sand, containing recent species of 

 marine shells with bones of the Irish Elk, have been ob- 

 served in the vicinity of Dublin, at an elevation of two 

 hundred feet above the level of the sea.* This extinct 

 quadruped, though found in peat-bogs and morasses of 

 comparatively very recent date, must therefore have been 

 an inhabitant of Ireland antecedently to some" of the last 

 changes in the relative position of the land and water. The 

 discovery of a vast number of skeletons in the small area 

 of the Isle of Man, seems to indicate a great alteration in 

 the extent of land and sea ; for it is difficult to conceive that 

 such herds of this gigantic race could exist in so limited 

 a district. It is therefore probable that the island was 

 separated from the main land at no remote geological 

 period, by subsidences commensurate with the elevations 

 of which Ireland affords such decisive evidence. 



In the examples above described, we have an interesting 

 transition from the living to the lost types of animal exist- 

 ence. 1st, Species no longer inhabitants of the British 

 islands, but still living in other countries ; 2dly, Animals 

 which have been exterminated within the last few cen- 

 turies ; lastly, Species that have been utterly destroyed by 

 the early races of mankind. 



9. Epoch of terrestrial mammalia. — We must now 

 advance another step in the history of the past, and proceed 

 to the consideration of the geological phenomena presented 

 by the period immediately antecedent to the present, when 

 vast regions were inhabited by large herbivorous mammalia, 

 with which species of existing races were associated. 

 Thus while the present may be termed the Modem or 



* By Dr. Scouler. 



