Among the fossils of the British empire, none are more calculated to
excite astonishment than the enormous stags’ horns which have been dug
up in different parts of Ireland. Their dimensions, as given by Dr.
Molyneux, are as follows.
Feet. Inch.
From the extreme tip of each horn, 10 10
From the tip of the right horn to its root, 5 2
From the tip of one of the inner branches to the
tip of the opposite branch, 3 7½
The length of one of the palms, within the
branches, 2 5
The breadth of the same palm within the branches, 1 10½
The length of the right brow antler, 1 2
A similar pair, found ten feet under ground, in the county of Clare, was
presented to Charles II. and placed in the horn-gallery, Hampton Court;
but was afterward removed into the guard-room of the same palace. At
Ballyward, near Ballyshannon; at Turvey, eight miles from Dublin; and at
Portumery, near the river Shannon, in the county of Galway, similar
horns have been found. In the common-hall of the Bishop of Armagh’s
house, in Dublin, was a forehead, with two amazingly large beams of a
pair of this kind of horns, which, from the magnitude of the beams, must
have much exceeded in size those of which the dimensions are given
above. Dr. Molyneux states, that in the last twenty years, thirty pair
of these horns had been dug up by accident in the country: the
observations, also, of several other persons, prove the great frequency
with which these remains have been found in Ireland. Various opinions
have been entertained respecting this animal and its existing prototype.
This, however, does not appear to have been yet discovered; and these
remains may, therefore, be regarded as having belonged to an animal now
extinct.