140 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.71 



NOTES ON THE NEGRO 



The above data show two outstanding results. One is the close 

 relation of the negro skulls from widely separated parts of Africa. 

 The second is the practical identity to this day of the American with 

 the African negroes. 



All through, the material is characterized by a poor development 

 in the males of the external sex characters of the skull, particularly 

 supraorbital ridges. In many of the specimens the sex identification 

 could only be reached ^vith the help of the skeleton, or with that of 

 the relation of cranial module to cranial capacity.^ 



Tendency to premature occlusion of the sagittal suture and con- 

 sequent cranial deformation, especially scaphocephaly, necessitating 

 the elimination of the specimen from anthropometric work is met 

 with in all the groups, but is much more common in the American 

 than in the African negro. 



The west Africans appear to be less dolichocephalic and to have 

 relatively a somewhat higher vault than the other groups; but the 

 series is not large or comprehensive enough to permit of any definite 

 conclusion. 



The Afro-Americans differ from the Melanesian blacks in that: 



The Afro-American skull is slightly broader, and relatively some- 

 what lower. 



The facial as well as the alveolar protrusion (prognathism) in the 

 Afro-Americans is somewhat more moderate, their nose is somewhat 

 broader, the orbits (male) somewhat narrower. 



The dental arch presents a higher index. 



The lower jaw tends to be higher. 



' Amer. Journ. Phys. Anthrop., 1928, vol. 8, p. 249. 



o 



