278 CHARLES R. STOCKARD AND A. L. JOHNSON 



what short, but its position and general inclination are the 

 same as in the long skull. The palate in the round type 

 is short and broad, almost semicircular, and in the long skull 

 is much longer and narrower; but in both it is concave 

 transversely and anteroposteriorly. 



The ventral region of the bulldog typed skull in figure 1 

 is different in structure from this region in the other two 

 skulls. Unfortunately, the teeth and portions of the dental 

 alveolar processes are missing from this human achondro- 

 plasic skull which was received at the Anatomical Labora- 

 tories of Cornell University many years ago. The method 

 used in preparing skulls at that time caused more corrosion 

 than present methods, and in this skull the spongy bone of 

 the alveolar region was almost destroyed; in other respects, 

 the specimen is perfectly good. The dental malocclusion 

 which very probably existed during the life of this person 

 may have been partly responsible for the toothless condition 

 and partial resorption of alveolar bone. 



In making the photographs, the palate of this achondro- 

 plasic skull was placed on as nearly as possible a horizontal 

 plane, comparable to the position of the other two skulls. 

 With the dwarf skull, this position fails to give an observer, 

 looking directly downward, the flat view of the border of 

 the foramen magnum possible in each of the other skulls. 

 In the achondroplasic skull the outline of the foramen magnum 

 is inclined obliquely upward and forward so that were a 

 plane surface placed over the opening it would incline forward 

 and slightly downward instead of directly down. 



Through the basicranium of this skull, a short distance 

 in front of the anterior border of the foramen magnum, 

 there is a natural transverse opening which is seen in the 

 photograph as a dark transverse line. This opening is the 

 result of defective union in the ankylosis of the basioccipital 

 and the basisphenoid bones to form the base of the cranium. 

 The basioccipital, which normally makes the larger contribu- 

 tion to the formation of the basicranium, is in this skull 



