405 
in no one instance, has anything like an entire skeleton been 
found, while, on the contrary, in the two former islands, the 
bones are of comparatively frequent occurrence. The Irish 
specimens alone, indeed, would amount to ninety-five per 
cent, of all that have been exhumed. A single dealer in 
Dublin, Mr. Glennon, had, up to 1846, sold four entire 
skeletons, and twenty-two heads and horns. The con- 
gregating of the Megaceros in the above localities however, 
has not, so far as I am aware, been in any way explained. I 
would therefore suggest the following theory, which has been 
adopted by Dr. Mantell, under very similar circumstances, to 
account for the localisation of the bones of the Moa. He 
says, — From the great numbers of the largest species of 
Dinornis that must formerly have existed, and the remark- 
able form and strength of their thighs, legs, and feet, 
constituting powerful locomotive limbs, well adapted for 
traversing extensive plains, it seems probable that these 
stupendous terrestrial birds were not anciently confined 
within the narrow limits of Modern New Zealand, but 
ranged over a vast continent that is now submerged, and, 
of which the isles of the Pacific are the culminating points. 
May not the Megaceros therefore in like manner, have 
formerly ranged over a large continent now submerged, of 
which Ireland and the Isle of Man were the highest points ? 
To these spots the animals would be driven in numbers as 
the intervening land was gradually covered with water, and 
here subsequently would continue, thus isolated, to increase, 
until still further physical changes on the surface of the 
existing land partially hastened their extinction, which would 
be completed by the first colonists who arrived at these 
islands, as well as by the repeated attacks of carnivorous 
animals, as the bear, wolf, &c, which might be alike restricted 
to the same isolated locality.* 
* Since I propounded the above hypothesis, I have been much gratified to find 
that the Rev. J. G. dimming, who has minutely examined the geology of the 
Isle of Man, more than confirms my crude theory,—" He supposes that there was a 
GG 2 
