THE HYPOTROCHANTERIC FOSSA OF THE FEMUR 



By ales HRDLICKA 



Curator, Division of Physical Anthropology, U.S. National Museum 



(With 14 Plates) 

 CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Earlier data on the fossa i 



Summary of observations from the literature 13 



New observations on the fossa 16 



The fossa in lemurs 17 



The fossa in New World monkeys 17 



The fossa in Old World monkeys 18 



The fossa in anthropoid apes IQ 



Summary of observations on anthropoid apes 22 



The fossa in early man 23 



The fossa in later and modern man 2;^ 



The fossa before and about time of birth 24 



The fossa in children, adolescents, and subadults 26 



U.S. Whites 27 



U. S. Negroes 27 



XII Dynasty Egyptians 28 



Prehistoric Peruvians 28 



North i\merican Indians 29 



The Eskimo 30 



Sex and side in juvenile bones 32 



The fossa in adults 32 



The fossa and platymery 35 



Adolescents compared with adults 36 



Differences in adults in the two sexes 40 



Differences in adults as to side 41 



The fossa in the aged 43 



Size of the fossa 44 



Life history of the fossa 45 



The fossa in lower mammals 45 



Summary 46 



EARLIER DATA ON THE FOSSA 



Under the name of " la fosse hypotrochanterienne ", Emile Houze^ 



in 1883 described a hollow located in the superior posterior and ex- 



^Houze, E., Sur la presence du troisieme trochanter chez I'homme. Bull. Soc. 

 Anthrop. Bruxelles, vol. 2, pp. 21-52, 1883-84. 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 92, No. 1 



