290 Zoological Society, 



the suture connecting the malar and superior maxillary bones, is, in 

 the generality of European crania, either vertical, or sometimes even 

 inclined inwards and upwards in the first part of its course, after- 

 wards turning outwards to form the commencement of the zygoma. 

 In the Esquimaux this line runs obliquely upwards and outwards, at 

 an angle of 45° from its commencement ; and in the skulls of the 

 Finns and Lappes it is intermediate to the two directions, being 

 however still inclined outwards. This obliquity is also decidedly 

 more marked in the Finns than in the Lappes. 



" Upon this the anterior view, more of the lateral aspect of the 

 lower jaw is seen than is ordinarily observed, in consequence partly 

 of the greater distance between the condyles, which will be again 

 noticed in the examination of the base of the skull, and partly from 

 the fact that the angles project more in a lateral direction, the entire 

 bone being apparently more developed than in other Europeans. 



•• With respect to some more minute points regarding these skulls, 

 the superciliary ridges are well-marked, the ossa nasi, and the ascend- 

 ing 23rocesses of the superior maxillary bones present a flatter and 

 broader anterior surface than the European, and the cavities and fora- 

 mina are well-marked. [In all these four skulls the supraorbital 

 opening for the frontal nerve and artery is a complete foramen upon 

 the left side, and merely a notch upon the right.] 



*• In consequence of the greater width of the superior maxillary 

 bone, the shape of the circumference of the orbit is not so round as in 

 the generality of European skulls, where the external inferior angle 

 is the lowest, but it is square, with the angles rounded ; and for the 

 same reason the space for the antrum is increased, while the depth 

 of the infraorbital or canine fossa is very materially decreased : in 

 one of the Finnish skulls this surface, from the inferior edge of the 

 orbit to the alveolar processes, is almost plane. There is nothing 

 remarkable in the nasal aperture. The shape of the orbit differs 

 materially from that of the Esquimaux, where it is almost round, and 

 from that in the skull of an Indian of the Sioux tribe, where it- much 

 resembles the European. 



" The distance from the inferior edge of the nasal aperture, that is, 

 from the anterior nasal spine to the margin of the alveolar process, 

 is in every specimen of these skulls of the Finns and Lappes decidedly 

 less than in any other European with which I have compared them. 

 The teeth are much ground. 



*' A lateral view of these crania shows that the forehead is some- 

 what more receding than in the generality of Europeans, although the 

 difference is not great, probably not more than is frequently seen be- 

 tween two specimens of the same tribe. 



"The general shape of the head resembles that of the European 

 anteriorly, but the posterior part does not project so much. There is 

 a marked difference between the posterior projection of the Finns 

 and Lappes and that of the Esquimaux, the latter being much more 

 prominent. 



" The line which represents the outline of the ossa nasi, &c., i. e. the 

 profile of the face of the skull, presents much less marked irregular!- 



