﻿6 PLEISTOCENE MAMMALIA. 



recent years they have been recorded by Scharff l from the prehistoric caves of 

 Edenvale, co. Clare, and from those of Kesh, co. Sligo, which yielded remains 

 referable in all probability to both the Pleistocene and Prehistoric periods. 



Bones of the wolf have also been fonnd in Prehistoric deposits at Knockninny 2 

 and Knockmore, 3 co. Fermanagh, and bones somewhat doubtfully referable to the 

 wolf at Ballynamintra, 4 co. Waterford ; but with these exceptions no wolf-bones 

 have been recorded from Irish Prehistoric deposits, a somewhat remarkable fact in 

 view of its great abundance in Ireland in historic times. 5 



The Dog (Canis familiaris). 



Owing to the frequent references to the bones of dogs in various papers dealing 

 with the Irish Mammalian remains some allusion must be made to them here, 

 though it is at least doubtful whether any animal that could be called a dog existed 

 in the British Isles in Pleistocene times. 



Owen G admits the dog to the number of his British fossil mammals, but does not 

 describe any British specimens. The dog is not included by Dawkins 7 in his table 

 showing the distribution of British post-glacial mammals, and is not mentioned by 

 Lydekker in his ' Catalogue of the Fossil Mammalia in the British Museum.' 

 Woodward and Sherborn 8 admit it among the British fossil vertebrates, but (?) Pre- 

 historic deposits at Norwich and Walthamstow are the only occurrences in Great 

 Britain to which they allude. Skulls attributed as a rule, owing to the length and 

 slender character of the muzzle, to the large extinct Irish wolf-hound, have been 

 repeatedly referred to by writers on Irish mammals. "Wilde 9 (1859) described 

 examples from near Dunshaughlin, co. Meath ; Haughton 10 (1876) referred to the 

 occurrence of the dog in Knockninny cave near Lough Erne ; Adams u (1880) and 

 Ball 12 (1885) referred to the skulls described by Wilde, and agreed with him in 

 attributing them to dogs ; and Adams 13 (1881) described slender mandibles from 



I ' Trans. Eoy. Irish Acad.,' xxxii, B., pt. 4 (1903), p. 201, and xxxiii,B., pt. 1 (1906), p. 43. 

 - ' Proc. Boy. Irish Acad.' (2), ii (Sci.), 1876, p. 482. 



3 ' Trans. Boy. Dublin Soc. ' (2), id, 1885, p. 335. 



* Ibid. (2), i, 1881, p. 205. 



5 See Adams, 'Proc. Boy. Iiish Acad.' (2), iii, 1878, p. 99; and Scouler, ' Journ. G-eol. Soc. 

 Dublin,' i, 1838, p. 225. 



6 ' Brit. Foss. Mammals and Birds,' p. 133. 



7 ' Quart. Journ. G-eol. Soc.,' xxv, 1869, p. 192. 



8 'A Catalogue of British Fossil Vertebrate,,' 1890, p. 324. 



9 ' Proc. Eoy. Irish Acad.,' vii, 1859, p. 194. 

 io Ibid. (2), ii (Sci.), 1876, p. 482. 



II ' Sci. Proc. Eoy. Dublin Soc.,' ii, 1880, p. 66. 



13 ' Trans. Eoy. Dublin Soc' (2), iii, 1885, p. 340. 

 13 Ibid. (2), i, 1881, p 205. 



