r quadrupeds, and used for food. Professor Owen,
however, contended that the skulls of the Giant Deer were not females
but males, from which the horns had been forcibly removed, and that the
holes in the foreheads were made by the violent wrenching off of the
horns tearing away a portion of the frontal bone from which they grew.

In reply to this opinion, Mr H. D. Richardson of Dublin, whose personal
acquaintance with the relics of this noble species is peculiarly
extensive, shewed that certain variations of proportion on which the
learned Professor relied to prove the skulls to be male, were of no
such value, individual animals presenting great discrepancies in these
respects: that the total absence of cornuous peduncles from the sides of
the forehead, and of the elevated bony ridge, conclusively proved the
sex to be female, which was permanently destitute of horns; and that in
no case could it be said that the ridge was forced away, since the
violence was confined to a _small hole_ in the centre of the forehead.

To put the matter to test, Mr Richardson experimented on two perfect
male skulls. In the one instance the force was applied to the beam of
the horns, and the result was their fracture where they are united to
the peduncles. In the other case the force was applied to the peduncles
themselves, to ascertain whether it was possible to wrench them and the
ridge away from the face, when the consequence was, that the skull was
completely riven asunder. Indeed to any one who looks at the position of
the horns in this animal, and their implantation, it must be
self-evident that their violent removal must tear away the entire
forehead, and not leave a central hole. Mr Edward Newman who
subsequently examined the specimens speaks decidedly on this point:--"I
have not the least hesitation in expressing my firm conviction that the
fractures were the result of human hands, and were the cause of the
death of the animals. These two fractured skulls correspond too exactly
with each other, and with that of a bullock with which I compared them,
to have resulted from accident: the edges of the fractures wore the
appearance of having been coeval with the interment or submergence of
the skulls, and presented a very strikingly different appearance from a
fracture recently made, and which I had the opportunity of examining.
There were several skulls of the male of the same species, one bearing
enormous antlers, but none exhibiting th