NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 411 



htierence of form which they exhibit. In some it is higher than broad ; in 

 others it is broader than high; in others again, the greatest breadth is _ be- 

 tween the parietal bosses ; in a fourth variety the greatest breadth coincides 

 with the base. In some, the contour of the hind head is almost square ; in 

 in some almost circular ; in some oblong ; in others triangular, and in others 

 still, pentagonal or very irregular. Now, none of these forms are diagnostic 

 of the Indian skull. Indeed, they all appertain to the races of the Eastern con- 

 tinent, as well as to those of the Western. 



It is very well known to craniographers that Dr. Morton, as early as 1846, 

 pointed out the existence of at least four different forms of the Peruvian skull, 

 all of which he regarded as artificial deformations, although in his Crania 

 Americana, published long before, he contended that these forms were natural 

 and congenital. Five years later, Dr. Rivero andTschudi, without appearing 

 to be aware of the views of Dr. Morton, arrived at the same conclusion that 

 these peculiar forms were congenital, and that there were four varieties of 

 them. Now, in all these varieties the occiput, as might be expected, varies 

 in form. One variety is very well shown in plate 2 of Crania Americana (No. 

 496 of the Catalogue), and also in the wood-cut representing No. 1277 of the 

 Catalogue. This form of occiput is also seen in Nos. 1275, 1279, 1280, 1281, 

 1283, 1284, 1363, 1364, 1366, and many others. A very different form of the 

 whole head, and of the occiput, which is flatly rounded, is seen in plate 7 of 

 Crania Americana, representing a Peruvian, from Santa. No. 1276 exhibits 

 a similar occiput. In his interesting work entitled Three Years in the Pacific, 

 Dr. Ruschenberger alludes to the peculiarities of form shown in Peruvian 

 skulls. He says that in many of the crania obtained by him at Santa, the 

 occiput "is almost vertical, and rises quite abruptly from the great hole at 

 the base" (p. 374). In plate 4 of Crania Americana, it will be seen that the 

 occiput is much fuller and rounder than in the last specimens. Just such a 

 form of the occipital region is represented in Nos. 1278, 1282, 1365, and 1366. 

 Nos. 13, 30, 75, 77, 84, 85, 86, 87, 93, 95, 97, 446, and many others, are 

 asymmetrical skulls, flattened behind in a manner more or less like one or 

 other of the forms represented in plates 8, 11, and 11 B,of Crania Americana. 

 In other skulls of this great Toltecan group, the occipital flatness is almost 

 vertical, and at the same time symmetrical, as above intimated. The supe- 

 riorly flattened or shelving occiput is seen in some of the Peruvian skulls, as 

 in Nos. 571, 631, and others. No. 696 has an occipital region very much like 

 that figured in Vimont's Atlas, plate 96, fig. 2 ; while Nos. 1420, 1425, and 

 all the casts of skulls found on the Island of Titicaca, resemble, in the con- 

 formation of the occiput, the cranium represented in Table 1 of Fitzinger's 

 Essay Ueber die Schcidel der Avaren. 



The skulls of Aymaras, from Bolivia and Peru, figured by D'Orbigny, have 

 projecting occiputs.* 



The Mexican crania in the Academy's collection differ from each other in the 

 form of the occipital region. 



A female skull (34), of this great family, obtained from Acapacingo, in the 

 Valley of Cuernavaca, about fifty miles south of the City of Mexico, and 

 regarded by Morton as belonging I o the Tlahuican nation, exhibits an occiput 

 moderately full and somewhat flattened above the slightly protuberant occipital 

 boss. Two ancient Mexican crania (734, 735), exhumed near the Indian 

 village of Guahapan, on the Mountain Popocatapetl, and perhaps of Aztec 

 origin, differ in the shape of the hind head. No. 734 is asymmetrical, the 

 right half of the occiput being flattened and pressed forward, while the left is 

 undisturbed. The hind-head, as a whole, however, is full ; and were it not 

 for the lateral flattening, might be regarded as rounded, or even almost 

 globular. In 735, on the other hand, the hind-head is narrower, and owing 



* L'Homme Americain. Atlas. 



I860.] 



