304 The Irish Naturalist. 



generally conceded by those who vaunt themselves on our 

 present civilization and religion. The civilization of the 

 British Islands is, after all, comparatively so recent that relics 

 of the previous millenniums of savagery and barbarism are 

 continually cropping up. 



For some years past I have been increasingly impressed 

 with the importance of these studies, and I recently determined 

 to make a beginning with the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, as 

 being in every way suitable for such researches. It was, 

 therefore, with great pleasure that I found my friend Dr. C. 

 R. Browne was able to join me in making the first of what I 

 hope will be series of studies in Irish Ethnography, conducted 

 in connection with a Committee appointed by the Royal Irish 

 Academ}^ for that purpose. Our joint investigations have just 

 been published in the Proceedings of the Royal h'ish Acade^ny 

 (3rd series, vol. iii., 1893, pp. 768-830, pis. xxii.-xxiv. 



The Aran men are mostly of a slight but athletic build, the 

 average height is about 5 feet 4I- inches, whereas that of the 

 average Irishman is said to be 5 feet 8^ inches. The span is 

 less than the stature in a quarter of the cases measured, a 

 rather unusual feature in adult males. The hands are rather 

 small, but the forearm is often unusually long. 



The head is well-shapen, rather long and narrow ; there is a 

 slight parietal bulging. Anthropologists classify heads accor- 

 ding to the relation between the length and the breadth ; the 

 length is taken as 100, and long narrow heads (dolichocephals) 

 are those in which the ratio of breadth to length is as 75, or 

 less, is to 100 ; the short broad heads (brachycephals) have a 

 ratio of 80, or more, to 100, whereas the mesaticephals are 

 intermediate between these two. The mean " cephalic index," 

 as it is termed, of the Aranites is 77*1, but it has been shown 

 that in order to more accurately compare the cephalic index 

 calculated upon measurements made on the living head with 

 that of skulls, it is necessary to deduct two units from the 

 former ; this gives 75*1 as the Aran cephalic index. I find that 

 the mean index of seven Aran skulls is 75*2, consequently the 

 average head is to a very slight extent mesaticephalic, although 

 the number measured is nearl}^ evenly divided between mesa- 

 ticephalic and dolichocephalic. The face is long and oval, 

 with well-marked features, the eyes are rather small and close 

 together, and marked at the outer corners by transverse 



