54 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS* COLLECTIONS VOL. 8^ 



they were not found sufficiently close together, especially in the case of 

 the femur, to remove all doubt as to their belonging to the same indi- 

 vidual or even the same form ; the skull shows considerable loss of 

 parts as well as substance, conditions not present in the femur ; while 

 morphologically there seems to be some disharmony between the dif- 

 ferent specimens, so that their ready acceptance as representatives 

 of one form and one individual is initially rather difficult. 



As to the localization of the specimens, it is not easy to conceive 

 how the skull and a femur of the same individual, in any, but especially 

 in secondary deposits — if the Trinil deposits are such — could come 

 to lie 50 feet from each other ; though such an occurrence cannot be 

 said to be impossible even in secondary accumulations. Here is the 

 first weakness in the case. 



The skull had certainly suffered much damage before its final 

 inclusion. Though evidently proceeding from an elderly individual 

 where many of the sutures are closed and all the parts are resistant, 

 it nevertheless has lost the whole face and especially the whole base. 

 This may mean a rot, or mechanical damage, or both. None of this, 

 we know amply from experience, is inconsistent with the status of 

 the skullcap as found ; it is also true that such a strong bone as the 

 femur may persist almost intact, especially on the surface of the 

 ground, though the skull and most other parts of the skeleton may 

 have been more or less destroyed. Nevertheless finding two specimens 

 well apart and in such different states of preservation, cannot but raise 

 a question as to their belonging to the same individual. This is the 

 second weakness of the find. 



The morphological details of the several parts offer a number of 

 difficulties. 



The skull shows obliteration of all the sutures of the vault, which 

 indicates an elderly individual. In such elderly primitive beings, 

 whether human or anthropoid, the teeth are generally more or less 

 worn ; but of the three teeth associated with this Trinil cranium the 

 anterior left lower premolar shows practically no wear, the last right 

 upper molar is little worn, while the penultimate left upper molar 

 shows a surface that is smoothly worn off (Dubois, Proc. Acad. Sci. 

 Amsterdam, 1924, Nos. 5 and 6, pp. 463-464, pis. IX-XI). These 

 conditions are inconsistent with the notion that all these teeth and the 

 skull belong together. Here is another incongruity and hence weak- 

 ness ; but there are others. 



The skullcap indicates plainly enough a female individual, as well 

 recognized by Dubois and not effectively contradicted by other 

 students. The length of the femur, however, corresponds to a stature 



