NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 223 



already described. There is a difference, however, in the basis eranii. No. 

 416 having a much greater intermastoid diameter. 



No. 1237 is the skull of an Indian woman exhumed near Fort Chartres, 

 Illinois. It is bracbycephalic and closely resembles the Chetimache skull, No. 

 43. The two skulls undoubtedly belong to the same great type. Their calvarial 

 outlines are very much alike ; though No. 1237 has a somewhat fuller and less 

 r.ecedent forehead. They have the same shaped orhits and anterior nares, 

 the same small and incurvated ossa nasi, and the same prominence of the 

 superior alveolus. In No. 1237 the bony palate is narrower, and the super- 

 ciliary ridges are more strongly marked. The bases craniorum are alike. 



No. 1315, the skull of an aboriginal American female, found in a saltpetre 

 cave at Golconda, Illinois, belongs to the arched type. It may be ranked with 

 the Dolichocephali. It has a decidedly prognathous, superior alveolus. 



No. 1510, male Indian skull taken from an ancient mound in Illinois, belongs 

 to the same type as the Pocasset cranium already referred to. It is a longer 

 and much older head than No 1315 is more rudely formed, and has the face 

 projecting further forward, in consequence of the prognathic upper jaw. 



No. 1511, an Indian cranium found with the preceding, belongs to the same 

 type, but is not so long, and has a flatter and more recedent forehead, and a 

 broader and somewhat shorter face. 



On p. 235 of Crania Americana, Dr. Morton informs us, that " in the month of 

 May, 1835, a cavern cemetery was discovered on the bank of the Ohio river, 

 opposite to Steubenville. * * * The bones contained therein appear to have 

 been deposited at different periods of time, those on tne top being alone in good 

 preservation. They were of all ages, and thrown in indiscriminately after the 

 removal of the flesh ; for it is well known that some tribes were accustomed 

 to gather, at times, all the bones of their deceased relatives, and place them in a 

 common receptacle. Of the great number of skulls found in this place but few 

 were perfect ; of which last I have received eight. These heads are thoroughly 

 characteristic of the race to which they pertain. They bear no evidence of 

 great age, and no doubt belonged to individuals of the barbarous tribes. Some 

 have thought them Mingoes, who were affiliated to the Iroquois; but the form 

 of the head does not support this surmise. * * * * All these skulls are 

 surprisingly alike the vertex elevated, the occiput flat, the parietal diameter 

 very great, and the lower jaw massive. They are also of singularly large 

 capacity, and in this respect approach nearer to the Sauks and Foxes, and the 

 Muskogees, than to any other tribes that have come under my notice. The 

 mean internal capacity gives upwards of 85 cubic inches, and the facial angle 

 rises 78 degrees. The anterior chamber gives 38-3 cubic inches, the posterior 

 49-2; but notwithstanding the proportion of the former, there can be lit le 

 doubt that these skulls belong to the savage tribes, and not to the Toltecm 

 stock." 



Of the above skulls, Nos. 420, 436, 437, 438, 658 and 723 resemble each other 

 very closely. They are all, with the exception of No. 438, asymmetrical. This 

 want of symmetry is due to a remarkable flattening of the occipital region, on the 

 left side in Nos. 436 and 437, and on the right in Nos. 420, 658 and 723. There 

 is, consequently, a striking want of correspondence between the antero- 

 posterior or longitudinal diameters of the two sides in each skull. Nos. 438 

 and 724 are natter in the crown, and have, therefore, a shorter vertical 

 diameter. All the specimens of this group may be assigned to the same 

 cranial type as exhibited iu the Chetimache skull, No. 43. In the Mound skulls, 

 however, the calvarial region is flatter, and has therefore less of the arched 

 form than the Chetimache crania. The occipital region iu the former is also 

 broader and flatter. There are facial differences likewise. Nos. 439 and 210 

 are longer, narrower, more oval and without the occipital flatness. They pre- 

 sent nothing of the arched form. In No. 723 the narrowness of the os frontis, 

 the wall-like flatness of the occipital region, and the lowness of the crown 

 combine to produce a singularly triangular form. 



1866.] 



