214 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OP 



middle of the right parietal bone, just above the tuberosity, exactly as repre- 

 sented in the plate. A comparison of this plate with the wood-cut of No. 1227, 

 in the Catalogue of Human Crania, and also in Indigenous Races, is sufficient 

 to show that in this group of three skulls two distinct forms exist. No. 744 

 may be assigned to the kumbecephalic, and No. 745 to the narrow oval sub- 

 divisions of the oval form or type. Both have flat and receding foreheads run- 

 ning up to a higher point at the junction of the sagittal and coronal sutures 

 or just behind this point. No. 1227 falls into the arched type. 



To the isolated or unplaced family of the Kitunaha, Coutanies or Kootenays, 

 therefore I provisionally refer Nos. 744 and 745 ; and to the Satsika or Black- 

 foot branch of the Algonquins, No. 1227. 



To the east of the Blackfoot country, and extending from the Saskachawan 

 River on the north southwardly to the Arkansas River, and from the Missis- 

 sippi to the Rocky Mountains, lies an important ethnological region occupied 

 by the Dacota and Pawnee Families of Indians. The latter live in two sepa- 

 rate localities, surrounded in great part by the more numerous tribes of the 

 former. 



Of the Pawnee group the collection of the Academy contains three Arikara, 

 and two Pawnee skulls. The Sioux or Dacota Family is represented by speci- 

 mens from eight different tribes, viz., Assinaboins, Minetaris, Mandans, Dako- 

 tas or Sioux's proper, Upsarookas or Crows, Osages, Ottoes, and the isolated 

 tribe of Winnebagos living on the western shore of Lake Michigan. 



Three female Arickaree skulls from the upper Missouri, (Nos. 649, 949, 748) 

 belong to the dolichocephalic class. The coronal region in No. 64. is oval 

 and rather flat, the vertical diameter, therefore, rather small ; the occipital 

 protuberance quite prominent, as in the Cimbric and Swedish crania in the 

 collection, and the upper half of the occipital region flat and shelving like 

 that of the Swedes ; the forehead low, superciliary ridges very small, malar 

 bones not very prominent ; ossa nas,i quite incurvated. The basis cranii of 

 No. 649 exhibits some approach to the kumbecephalic form of Prof. Wilson. 

 No. 949 exhibits the same general characters, but is fuller in the frontal re- 

 gion, and has a less prominent occipital protuberance. The same remarks 

 apply to No. 748. In the homoiocephalic comparison of the old and new 

 worlds, these Arickaree skulls may be fairly regarded as the American repre- 

 sentatives of the Swedish crania. 



The two skulls in the collection marked Pawnee are remarkably discrepant 

 in form. One of them, No. 1043, is most probably an Arickaree cranium. 

 The other, No. 540, is a female head from the Platte River. It is figured in 

 Crania Americana, plate 38. In this skull the forehead is sufficiently de- 

 pressed, to cause the posterior part of the head to be higher than the anterior. 

 From the coronal suture, the median longitudinal line, coinciding with the 

 sagittal suture, curves regularly and evenly round to the upper edge of the 

 os occipitis. Hence the posterior region cannot be called flat, although at the 

 first glance it appears so, in consequence of the prominence of the occipital 

 boss. If the line of the crown is continued evenly to the base of the skull, so 

 as to cut off the occipital protuberance, it will then be seen that the posterior 

 region is full and round. This is not the case in No. 1043, also female, which 

 is^ longer head with a much more prominent occipital boss. The basis oc- 

 cipitis of this skull is flat, somewhat like that of the Minetaris, while the basis 

 cranii exhibits a long cimbriform outline instead of the round one presented 

 in No. 540. In fact No. 1043 resembles the Arickaree forms in many respects ; 

 and should, I think, be classified with this group. It differs from them, how- 

 ever, in such minor particulars as the form of the alveolar arch, breadth of 

 upper maxilla, &c. 



To the dolichocephalic group must also be assigned the Minetaris or Gros- 

 ventres of Missouri. The oblong coronal region of the four cranial specimens 

 of this tribe in the collection resembles that of the Arickarees and Assina- 

 boins. The most elevated point of the crown is in the middle of the sagittal 



fMay, 



