420 
As far as my own observation goes, and from the appearance 
of the tynes of the horns of the Megaceros, they seem very 
unlikely to have produced the wound in question; and, as Mr. 
Richardson justly remarks, — The point of a tyne coming 
in contact with a surface so convex, so narrow, so smooth, 
and so elastic as that of a rib, would, instead of perforating, 
glide off, and pass between the ribs, penetrating the cavity 
behind them ; or, if driven with such force as to avoid the 
slipping, it would not stop at making a hole, but would 
crush through all opposition and fracture the ribs ; and, 
again, as velocity gives more perforating power to a blow, 
than actual force or weight, it is easier to imagine an arrow 
penetrating and sticking in a rib, than the most violent 
blow of a horn, which might be turned aside, should per- 
forate the bone. 
With reference to the remarks of Dr. Scouler, I conceive 
that the fact of the two heads being found with their horns en- 
twined, although, perhaps, sufficient evidence that the animals 
died in mortal combat, does not necessarily prove that the rib 
in question had belonged to either of these individuals, as the 
bones are seldom found close to the head, (as I am informed,) 
and still more opposed to this having been the case, is the 
circumstance, that the wound in the rib was an old one. 
Again, that the wound had been made by the teeth of some 
carnivorous animal is, I think, exceedingly doubtful, for if 
the attack was made during the life-time of the Deer, the 
aperture would have been closed up by fresh bony matter, 
supposing the individual to have lived long enough for the 
natural restoration to take place ; and, if not, the wound 
would have only presented the appearance of a recent perfo- 
ration, while Dr. Hart expressly states that there was, round 
the hole, an irregular effusion of callus or new osseous sub- 
stance, proving that the Deer survived the injury some time, 
and also that some foreign body intervened between the edges 
