NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 2l5 



suture, a little anterior to a line drawn through the parietalia from one emi- 

 nence to the other. The posterior region of the parietalia slopes downwards 

 and backwards to the irregular and lozenge-shaped occipital protuberance. 

 The basal portion of the occipital bone is remarkably flat. nearly horizontal, 

 in fact, and the cerebellar fossa? quite shallow. This peculiarity is well-marked 

 in all the specimens composing this group- This feature and the prominent 

 occiput give to the Minetari skull the appearance of being pinched or drawn 

 out behind. This is particularly the case in No. 746. The low crown, flat 

 sides and base of these skulls give them an angular, oblong or box-like ap- 

 pearance. The specimens of this group, three of which are females, and the 

 fourth a male, are remarkably alike. 



Three Assinaboin skulls, also from the upper Missouri, (Nos. 659, 1230, 1231) 

 are larger than the Arickarees, as shown by their greater internal capacity. 

 They are more massive and roughly marked, and in general present more of 

 the rude Indian character. They are broader between the parietal bosses 

 than the Arickaree heads ; and, consequently, have a less narrow, and some- 

 what differently shaped coronal region. The contour of the latter slightly ap- 

 proximates the Germanic form. The occiput in No. 659, a male skull, is equally 

 protuberant, more massive and flat in the upper part, and the nasal bones less 

 incurvated than in the Arickarees. These features are not so well marked in 

 Nos. 1230 and 1231. It will thus be seen that No. 659 differs more from the 

 Arickarees than Nos. 1230 and 1231, but the two latter, like the Arickaree 

 specimens, belong to the female sex. Upon the whole, the base is not so long 

 and narrow. 



The Mandans of the upper Missouri are a long-headed people. The general 

 form of their skulls resembles very closely that of the Arickarees and Assina- 

 boins. This is very well shown in Nos. 643, 644, 738 and 742 ; of which the 

 first three are females, and the last a male. In No. 739, a female skull, the 

 occipital protuberance is not so fully developed, but the posterior interparie- 

 tal diameter is greater. The coronal contour, consequently, undergoes some 

 change. In a male skull, No. 740, the broader coronal region is more oblong 

 than oval. In No. 741, also a male skull, the greater elevation of the breg- 

 matic region gives to that skull the arched or upsicephalic form presently to 

 be described. No. 738 closely resembles the Kootenay skull, No. 745. 



No. 204, the skull of a Dacota or Sioux Indian, belongs to the Creek type, 

 as exhibited in No. 1454, though the occiput is a little more prominent, and 

 the head slightly longer and narrower. Its form is transitionary from the 

 broad oval of the Assinaboin skull. No. 112. the head of a Dacota child, is 

 markedly dolichocephalic, with an occipital region like a shelving roof. No. 

 605, the skull of a Dacota or Sioux Indian from Wisconsin, somewhat resem- 

 bles the Chetimache type, as the reader will perceive at a glance, by compar- 

 ing plates 19 and 39 of Crania Americana. The truncation of the occiput is 

 confined entirely to the upper part of the os occipitis and is but slightly marked. 

 Indeed the posterior region taken as a whole is full and rounded or globular 

 like that of the Pawnee skull, No. 540. These two heads, in fact, resemble 

 each other closely, so that it is difficult to say whether both be Pawnees or 

 both Dacotas. They certainly appear to belong to the same tribe. Dr. Mor- 

 ton speaks of having once seen in Philadelphia, in 1837, twenty-six chiefs 

 and braves of the Sioux nation. " Every man of them," says he, " bad a 

 broad face, high cheek bones, the large Roman nose expanded at the nostrils, 

 a wide but low forehead and flat occiput/' 



The Osages are brachycephalic, as is particularly shown in No. 54, in which 

 the coronal region is almost round like that of the true Germanic head, and 

 the occiput perpendicularly flattened. This skull, which is that of a young 

 warrior named the Buffalo Toil, from Arkansas, is figured by Morton in Cra- 

 nia Americana, plate 41. The face is large and rude, the malar bones mas- 

 sive, and the alveoli prominent ; but the forehead is less recedent than in 

 many of the Indian crania. The skull belongs to the angularly round or 



1866.] 



