270 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL.83 



first skeleton. The skeleton lay at the same level and in the same 

 axis as the first one, but in an inverse position, the heads approaching 

 each other, the rest of the bodies extending in opposite directions. 

 The body had also been flexed and lay on its right side, the hands 

 resting on the knees. 



The bones of the lower members were fairly well preserved, those 

 of the upper limbs only partially; of the thorax there were but a 

 few remnants.' The burials of the infants came to light in subsequent 

 work. 



In 1923 M. Peyrony very kindly accompanied the writer to the 

 shelter, where a portion of all the layers has been left as an archeo- 

 logical monument. At that time it was still possible to discern three 

 shallow, slightly darker depressions that originally contained the 

 bodies of the infants. In M. Peyrony's opinion, all the subjects found 

 in the shelter received intentional burial, though its exact nature was 

 still a subject for speculation. 



The remnants of the second adult skeleton are also preserved under 

 Professor Boule's care in the Paris Museum of Natural History. The 

 specimens have not yet been described separately, or exhaustively. 

 They are reported upon partially by M. Boule, but the data concerning 

 them are scattered in his Memoir on the fossil man of La Chapelle 

 and in his book on " L'Homme fossile." ^ 



DESCRIPTIVE NOTES ON THE LA FERRASSIE REMAINS 

 THE CRANIA 



All that can be done in describing the specimens is to utilize the 

 partial notes of Professor Boule, adding to them such observations 

 as were possible to the writer in his brief views of the otherwise still 

 unavailable originals. 



Skull No. I, relatively well preserved, is plainly that of a male; 

 skull No. 2, defective, is that of a female. The male was about 

 middle aged, the female adult, age uncertain. The brain portion of 

 the male skull is striking through its large size ; it appears to be at 

 least as large as the La Chapelle. It belonged to a male taller but 

 somewhat less muscular than the latter specimen. The second skull 

 was evidently of but moderate proportions and belonged to a short 

 female. 



* Capitan and Peyrony, Station prehistorique de la Ferrassie. Rev. anthropo- 

 logique, Vol. 22, pp. 29-50, 76-99, 191 2. 



'^ Boule, M., L'Homme fossile de La Chapelle-aux-Saints, Paris, 1913. Fossil 

 Alen, London, 1923. 



