28 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



its regularity and demonstrate how the exterior outHne harmon- 

 izes with the Hnes which surround it. Elhpsoid, or whatever 

 similar name is adopted, signifies a body which has an outline 

 similar to an ellipsis. Such an elliptical form, very common 

 among varieties of crania, necessarily has all the projections 

 rounded off, the occipital is never flat, and the parietal pro- 

 tuberances are always slight, or do not exist; the transverse curve 

 of the norma verticalis or cranial arch is moderately or decidedly 

 convex. 



Fig. 2.— Ellipsoides. 



A form of this kind, considered only as norma verticalis, is 

 subject to variations in length and width; hence it may be a short 

 and wide ellipsis, brachy ellipsoid {br achy ellipsoides), a long one 

 or a narrow one, dolichellipsoid or stencllipsoid. 



2d. Pentagonoid (^pentagonoides) (Fig. 3). 



Figure 3 shows a pentagon of unequal sides, but symmetrical, 

 into which is inserted a cranial form corresponding to its respec- 

 tive sides, but with rounded angles, of which the most rounded, 

 which is cut off, is that which corresponds to the occipital cone. 

 In this cranial type the parietal protuberances are pointed, and 

 often with corners definite and acute; from these points towards 

 the frontal there is a gradual narrowing, and so also towards the 

 occipital; but with this difference, that while from the parietal 



