From the formidable appearance of these horns, then, we must suppose that their possessor was obnoxious to the aggressions of some carnivorous animals of ferocious habits; and such we know to have abounded in Ireland, as the wolf, and the celebrated Irish wolf dog. Nor would it be surprising if limestone caves should be discovered in this country, containing the remains of beasts of prey and their victims, similar to the hyænas’ dens of Kirkdale, and other places, respecting which such interesting researches have been lately laid before the public by the geologists of this country and the Continent.
The absence of all record, or even tradition, respecting this animal[428], naturally leads one to inquire whether man inhabited this country during its existence? I think there is presumptive evidence in the affirmative of this question, afforded by the following circumstances. A head of this animal described by Professor Goldfuss of Bonn, was discovered in Germany in the same drain with several urns and stone hatchets; and in the 7th volume of the Archæologia Britannica, is a letter of the Countess of Moira, giving an account of a human body found in gravel, under eleven feet of peat soaked in the bog water: it was in good preservation, and completely clothed in antique garments of hair, which her ladyship thinks might have been that of our fossil animal. But more conclusive evidence on this question is derived from the appearance exhibited by a rib, presented by Archdeacon Maunsell to the Royal Dublin Society, in which I discovered an oval opening near its lower edge, the long diameter of which is parallel to the length of the rib, its margin is depressed on the outer, and raised on the inner surface, round which there is an irregular effusion of callus. This opening had been evidently produced by a sharp pointed instrument, which did not penetrate so deep as to cause the animal’s death, but which remained fixed in the opening for some length of time afterward; in fact it was such an effect as would be produced by the head of an arrow remaining in a wound after the shaft was broken off[429].
It is not improbable, therefore, that the chace of this gigantic animal once supplied the inhabitants of this country with food and clothing.
As to the causes which led to the extinction of this animal, whether it was suddenly destroyed by the deluge, or by some other great catastrophe of nature, or whether it was ultimately exterminated by the continued and successful persecution of its pursuers, as has nearly been the case with the red deer within the recollection of many of the present generation, I profess myself unable to form any decided opinion, owing to the limited number of facts as yet collected on the subject. On some future occasion I may, perhaps, be induced to revert to so interesting a topic, should I have opportunities of discovering any thing worthy of communication.
The following Table exhibits a comparative view of the measurements of different parts of the skeletons of the Cervus Megaceros in the Museum of the Royal Dublin Society, and in the Royal Museum of the University of Edinburgh, with some parts of the Moose. The measurements of the Edinburgh specimen are taken from Professor Jameson’s memoir on organic remains, in the Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica.
| HEAD. | R. D. Soc. | U. of Edin. | Moose | |||
| Ft. In. | Ft. In. | Ft. In. | ||||
| Length of the head, | 1 | 8½ | 1 | 8¼ | ||
| Breadth of the skull between the orbits. | 0 | 10½ | 0 | 9 | ||
| Do. of skull at the occiput, | 0 | 8 | ||||
| Diameter of the orbit, | 0 | 2⅜ | 0 | 2½ | ||
| Distance between infra orbitar holes across the skull, | 0 | 7 | ||||
| Length of alveolar processes of the upper jaw, | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Length of lower jaw, | 1 | 5½ | 0 | 3½ | ||
| Diam. of foramen magnum, | 0 | 2 | ||||
| HORNS. | ||||||
| Distance between the extreme tips, measured by the skull, | 11 | 10 | ||||
| Ditto, in a straight line across, | 9 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 7 |
| Length of each horn, | 5 | 9 | 5 | 1 | ||
| Greatest breadth of the palm, | 2 | 10 | ||||
| Length of the beam, | 1 | 9 | 0 | 6½ | ||
| Ditto of brow antler, | 0 | 8¾ | ||||
| Ditto of sur-antler, | 1 | 4 | ||||
| Circumference of the beam at root of brow antler, | 1 | 0¾ | 0 | 7½ | ||
| BODY. | ||||||
| Length of spine, | 10 | 10 | 9 | 8 | ||
| Ditto of sternum, | 2 | 4 | ||||
| Height to the upper extremity of the dorsal spines, | 6 | 6 | ||||
| Ditto to the highest point of the tip of the horn, | 10 | 4 | ||||
| EXTREMITIES. | ||||||
| Greatest length of the scapula, | 1 | 6½ | ||||
| Ditto breadth at the base, | 0 | 10¾ | ||||
| Ditto depth of its spine, | 0 | 2¾ | ||||
| Length of the humerus, | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3½ | ||
| Ditto of ulna and radius, | 1 | 8 | 1 | 6 | ||
| Ditto of carpus, | 0 | 2¾ | 0 | 2 | ||
| Circumference of do., | 0 | 9½ | ||||
| Length of metacarpus, | 1 | 0½ | 1 | 0½ | ||
| Length of phalanges, | 0 | 7 | 0 | 6½ | ||
| From anterior superior spine of one ileum to that of the other, | 1 | 4½ | 1 | 6½ | ||
| From anterior superior spine to the tuber ischii, | 1 | 8 | 1 | 9½ | ||
| Greatest diameter of foramen ovale, | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | ||
| Least do. of do., | 0 | 2¾ | 0 | 2¼ | ||
| Length of the femur, | 1 | 6½ | 1 | 5½ | ||
| Ditto of tibia, | 1 | 6 | 1 | 6 | ||
| Length of the tarsus, including the os calcis, | 0 | 8 | ||||
| Ditto of the metatarsus, | 1 | 1¾ | 1 | 1¾ | ||