256 Annals of the South African Museum. 



In Turner's Bushman the general kimbar index was 106, and the 

 index of the fifth lumbar vertebrae was 95. 



Cunningham from three Bushman skeletons found a mean lumbar 

 index of 106-6, with an individual range fi-om a mean index of 115-9 

 in the first to 95-3 in the fifth. 



From fourteen male Andamanese Cunningham obtained a mean 

 total index of 106-3, and from nine females 102-4 ; from seven male 

 Negroes an index of 106, and from three females one of 103-4. 



The Central African Pigmies present similar indices to the other 

 dwarf races, but smaller than for Negroes or Australians, viz. : — 



Bambute (Shrubsall) 102. 

 Akka (Flower) 102-6. 



The two Humansdorp skeletons thus yield widely different results, 

 the larger being distinctly simian in its characters. It has the 

 largest lumbar index yet recorded, and resembles the Simiidae_in 

 that in the lowest as in the highest lumbar vertebree the centrum is 

 wedge-shaped with a base directed posteriorly. The smaller bones 

 present the opposite features, but the individual not being full grown 

 comparison is very uncertain. So far as the bones go the Bushmen 

 (and Strandloopers) should therefore have a nearly straight lumbar 

 spine. Cunningham and Turner have, however, shown that in life 

 this is not the case, the shape of the individual discs, which are 

 thicker anteriorly, sufficing to reverse the attitude determined by the 

 proportions of the bones. 



The races of mankind have been classified by means of the index 

 of the lumbar spine into three groups : — 



1. Kurtorachic. Index below 98, the spine being strongly convex 

 anteriorly. In this category come most Europeans and Chinese. 



2. Orthorachic. Index 98-102, the spine being nearly straight. 

 The Eskimo are examples of this class. 



3. Koilorachic. Index above 102, the lumbar spine being concave 

 anteriorly. Polynesians, Andamanese, Negroes, and Australian 

 natives belong to this class, as do the Simiidse. 



Previous observations place the Bushmen in the latter class ; the 

 present series of skeletons, however, fall in the second class with 

 straighter spines. The limits of variation, however, are great, 

 examples being found with indices ranging from 95-8 to 109-3, and 

 the number of specimens so small that no definite classification is 

 quite certain. The average falls near the limits between classes 2 

 and 3. 



