4 6 4 



EVOLUTIONARY MORPHOLOGY 



The nearest approach to the human condition without 

 achieving it on the part of an ape is Australopithecus, the 

 Taungs skull, from South Africa. This fossil betrays kinship 

 to the Gorilla and chimpanzee, but its brain is slightly larger 

 and its face smaller. 



The earliest known member of the human family is Pithe- 

 canthropus from Java. This form had a much enlarged brain 

 with a cubic capacity of about 950 c.c, while the maximum 



Fig. 181. — Skull of Homo rhodesiensis, drawn by T. L. Poulton. 



Elliott Smith.) 



(From 



volume of an ape's brain is 650 c.c. From the structure of its 

 femur, it walked almost erect. In some respects it preserves 

 primitive features such as the continuity between the occipital 

 and temporal crests on the skull, and many features in the 

 conformation of the brain, but in others it is specialised, as in 

 the development of the large brow-ridges. 



The most important of all the human fossils is Eoanthropus, 

 the Piltdown skull from Sussex, The bones of the skull are 



