5 o6 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



sides of the skull are rounded and swell into large parietal 

 bosses. 



It is neither long nor short (mesaticephalic), and the ratio of 

 its breadth to its length (cephalic index) is 73*9, as determined 

 from measurement of twenty-six examples. The cranial capacity 

 is the lowest yet met with among recent races, measuring on 

 the average 1199 cc. ; in the men the average rises to 1306 cc, 

 in the women it falls to 1093 cc. 



The face is remarkably short, and presents a peculiarly brutal 

 appearance ; the brow-ridges and glabella are strongly marked, 

 and there is a deep notch at the root of the nose. The jaws 

 project, but not to the extreme degree which is characteristic of 

 the Negro, nor even so much as in some Australians. The lower 

 jaw is small, disproportionately so when compared with the 

 teeth, which, as already observed, are very large. In con- 

 sequence of this misfit the natives suffered grievously from 

 dental troubles. 



In endeavouring to discover the people to whom the Tas- 

 manians are most closely related, we shall naturally restrict 

 our inquiries to the Ulotrichi, for, as we have seen, the 

 Tasmanians belong to this group. Huxley thought they 

 showed some resemblance to the inhabitants of New Caledonia 

 and the Andaman Islands, but Flower was disposed to bring 

 them into closer connection with the Papuans or Melanesians. 

 The leading anthropologists in France do not accept either 

 of these views. Topinard states that there is no close 

 alliance between the New Caledonians and the Tasmanians, 

 while Quatrefages and Hamy remark that " from whatever 

 point of view we look at it, the Tasmanian race presents 

 special characters, so that it is quite impossible to discover 

 any well-defined affinities with any other existing race," and 

 this probably represents the prevailing opinion of the present 

 day. 



The Tasmanians appear to have been an autochthonous 

 people, native to the soil, the surviving descendants of a 

 primitive race, elsewhere extinct or merged into a preponderant 

 alien population. Frequenting the coast, and yet destitute of 

 sea-going craft, it is scarcely likely that they reached Tasmania 

 from any of the outlying islands ; and it is far more probable, 

 as our foremost authorities now maintain, that they crossed 

 over from Australia at a time antecedent to the formation of 



