1868.] 455 [Wyman. 



Ainonii; the crania from California are two taken from a cave, 

 incrusted both on the outer and inner sm-face with stalagmite. At- 

 tention to the locality was directed by ]Mr. George Gibbs of Wash- 

 ington, and the crania were obtained by Prof. J. D. Whitney, State 

 Geologist. They show no peculiarities in wliicli they are distin- 

 guished from other crania from California. A complete series of 

 measurements could not be given without removing the stalagmite, 

 which incrusted nearly the whole surface of each. 



5. Synostotic Crania. 



Deformities of the head accompanying a premature closing of the 

 sutures, were first treated of at length by Yirchow, Lucae and 

 Welcker in Germany, and subsequently by Drs. Minchin, Turner, 

 Bhurnham, J. Barnard Davis and Prof. Huxley in England.* The 

 three chief kinds recognized are, 1st, the long head, accompanying 

 the closure of the sagittal suture; 2d, the short and high head, associ- 

 ated with the closure of the coronal and lambdoidal sutures; and, 3d, 

 the curved head, in which these last sutures are closed only on one side. 

 The crania here described belong to the first group, and are all long. 



I. This cranium belonged to the collection of Dr. Gaspard Spurz- 

 heim, and is deposited in the Anatomical IMuseum of Ilarvai'd 

 College at Cambridge. Nothing is known of its history. It came 

 from a subject somewhat advanced in life; the bones have a dense 

 texture, the coronal suture is partially, and the sagittal and lambdoi- 

 dal sutures are wholly closed. The lengthening of the head has taken 

 jilace mostly forwards, as appears from the fact that the forehead is 

 very protuberant, and the index of the foramen magnum is only 40.3; 

 Viewed from above, the cranium is somewhat contracted behind the 

 coronal suture, and the whole is slightly curved with a concavity to 

 the left side. The occipital condyles are anomalous, that on the right 

 being almost flat, except at the outer edge, where it is vertical, and 

 the left being divided into two distinct facets, also flat, which are on 

 different i)lanes, the ordinary movements of the head on these sur- 

 faces must have been almost null. 



* For a full discussion of the subject by English authorities see the following 

 articles : — 



On Cranial Deformities, and more especially on the Scaphocephalic Skull. By 

 William Turner, M. B. Nat. Hist. Keview, Vol. iv., 1864, p. 88. 



On Synostoses of the Cranial Bones Kegarded as a Kace-Character in one Class 

 of Ancient British and in African Skulls. By John Thurnham, 31. D. JCat. Hist. 

 Keview, Vol. v., 1835, p. 242. 



On Synostotic Crania Among Aboriginal Eaces of Men. By J. Barnard Davis, 

 M. D. With eleven plates. London, Williams and Jvorgate. 



Thesaurus Crauiorum. By Joseph Barnard Davis, M. D. London, 186". 



Prof Thomas H. Huxley in Laing & Huxley's Prehistoric IJemaius of Caith- 

 ness. London, 1866. 



