48 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL.83 



THE BRAIN 



As to the size of the brain, " it may be assumed that with equal body 

 weight Pithecanthropus possessed double the brain quantity of the 

 Anthropoid Apes" (p. 271). The endocranial cast in its side view 

 " presents a striking resemblance with the endocranial cast of a small 



Hylohates species reproduced at the same size There is on 



the other hand a great difference — and a difference of great im- 

 portance — between the profile of the endocranial cast and that of the 

 Neanderthal Man of La Chapelle-aux-Saints " (pp. 271-272). 



Although the Neanderthal casts, because of their comparatively low 

 height, appear also more simian than the cast of the brain of Homo 

 sapiens, both differ markedly from that of the Pithecanthropus in 

 that the parietal region is considerably more developed. Of the cere- 

 bral fissures the " most conspicuous, in the front, is, on the right side, 

 the sulcus frontalis inferior, as clear and unmistakable as in any 

 human hemisphere, but in the simplest form, such as it presents 

 shortly before birth" (p. 273). "We meet, therefore, with already 

 perfectly human forms in the frontal cerebral gyri of Pithecanthro- 

 pus." But in other respects " the brain of Pithecanthropus is not dis- 

 tinguished qualitatively, only quantitatively, from that of the Anthro- 

 poid Apes. The double brain quantity (for equal bulk), is the most 

 important characteristic that distinguishes Pithecanthropus from the 

 Anthropoid Apes." 



To which Dubois adds (p. 274) : " It seems to me that it is evident, 

 at least, from all this that Man and Pithecanthropus both descend 

 from a common primitive Simian ancestor. From this among the 

 living species, the Hylobatidac. though greatly differentiated by their 

 long arms and sabre-shaped canines, depart least, several fossil 

 Simiidae still less. Also through his mandible and teeth Pithecanthro- 

 pus deviated less from this common stock type than the three living 

 Gigantanthropoidea and the Hylobatidae." 



And p. 178 : " The approach of the mandible and the teeth, as also 

 of the femur, to the human type, and the large cranial capacity, 

 added to considerations on the brain-quantities in nearly allied mam- 

 malian genera, all this leads nic to the conclusion that Pithecanthropus 

 shfuild be considered as a member, but a distinct genus, of the family 

 of the Hominidae." 



THE TEETH 



No special discussion is given to the three teeth. Imt their detailed 

 characteristics are noted in connection with their figures.' These 



' Proc. Acad. Sci. Amsterdam, Vol. 27, Nos. 5-6, 1924. 



