ETHNOLOGY. 413 



where tliis river is crossed by tlie 40th parallel of latitude. The fissure, which 

 is three feet wide, was filled with tbe drift material of this region, consistiag of 

 clay, sand, and broken stone, the whole being- covered with a stratum of surface 

 soil. In this bed. which had appai-cntly been undisturbed since the deposit, 

 was found the skull under consideration, at the depth of three feet. 



It is dolichocephalic and symmetrically oval in form, and is especially remark- 

 able for its great length, for tlie protuberance of the posterior or parieto-occipital 

 region, the "flatness of the frontal bone, the great development of the super- 

 ciliary ridges and the mastoid processes, and the depth of the temporal fossse. 

 The length as compared with the breadth is as 41 to 27, and with the height 

 as 41 to 28. The sagittal sutme has evidently undergone complete ossification 

 at a comparatively early period ; a small portion only of the anterior part of 

 this suture showing any traces of the serrations. The lambdoidal suture appears 

 to have become ossified at a later period, and is less completely obliterated than 

 the sagittal. The occipito-teraporal sutures, which are generally the first to 

 ossify, are still open, as is also the coronal suture. Owing to this departure 

 from the usual order of ossification of the sutures, the lateral expansion of the 

 brain has l)een interfered with, and its antero-posterior or longitudinal develop- 

 ment greatly favored. The extreme elongation of the skull, therefore, is readily 

 accounted for. From the superior region the skull widens out towards the base 

 to such an extent that the intermastoid diameter or breadth at the base is some- 

 what greater than either the bi-temporal or vertical diameters. The mastoid 

 processes are very large. The upper half of the os occipitis is quite prominent, 

 and the convexities indicating the position of the cerebellar fossae moderately 

 full and rounded. The alisphenoids curve backwards considerably between the 

 anterior, inferior angles of the parietals and the squamous edge of the temporal 

 bones. Their external surface is deeply concave, as is also that portion of the 

 OS frontis lying directly behind the external angular process, and below the 

 temporal ridge. Hence the temporal fossae are unusually deep. The super- 

 ciliar}' ridges are thick and protuberant, curving somewhat like the horns of a 

 goat, upwards and outwards from the glabella, of which they appear to be the 

 continuation, and completely overhanging the ossa nasi and the upper and inter- 

 nal angles of the orbits in such a manner as to coalesce with and obliterate the 

 inner half of the supra-orbital margins.- Above these ridges the os frontis is 

 incurvated, but becomes somewhat more prominent again at a point just below 

 the middle of the frontal suture. The great prominence of the superciliary 

 ridges in this cranium is a notal»le feature, inasmuch as the American aboriginal 

 skull is characterized by the absence, rather than by the presence of these ridges. 

 I find, upon careful examination, that in the great majority of the American 

 Indian crania contained in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences, 

 these ridges are wholly or almost entirely absent. They are moderately devel- 

 oped in the followdng specimens: Assinaboin, No. 659; Naas, No. 213; Klika- 

 tats, Nos. 203, 207, 461; Calapoovah, No. 574; Cherokees, Nos. 12S5, 1297; 

 Chetimache, No. 70; Chippewa, No. 683; Creeks, Nos. 441, 579, 1454, 204; 

 Hurons, Nos. 1217, 1218; Iroquois, Nos. 16, 989; Lenapes, Nos. 418, 1265; 

 Mandans, Nos. 740, 741, 742, 1220, 1222; Miami, No. 106; Mohawks, Nos. 

 895, 896; NaiTagansetts, Nos. 950, 954, 956, 1040; Naticks, Nos. 110, 116; 

 Osage, No. 54; Ottigamie, No. 415; Penobscot, No. 89; Pottawatomie, No. 

 737; Seminole, No. 732 ; Shoshone, No. 1449; Euchee, No. 39; Oneida, No. 

 33; Pocasset, No. 1036 ; Seneca, No. 1516 ; from the mounds, Nos. 53, 1270, 

 1511; Inaya, No. 990 ; Araucanians, Nos. 655, 997, 1242; Caribs, Nos. 638, 

 692; Brazilians, Nos. 1254, 1528; Peruvians, Nos. 67, 1279, 1282, 1363, 13, 

 77, 84, 85, 92, 409, 1456, 1461, 1462, 1465, 1470, 1472, 1473, 1481, 1482, 

 1499, 1500, 1504, 72, 996, 1413, 1416, 1417, 1426, 1427, 1432, 1440, 1442, 

 73, 449, 68, 91 ; Kahnica Mexican, No. 34 ; Otomie Mexicans, Nos, 1000, 

 1002; Pames Mexican, No. 681; Ancient Mexicans, Nos. 1314, 682, 234; 

 Lipans, Nos. 1345, 1346; Modern Mexicans, Nos. 1515, 555, 558. 



