264 THE NATURAL HISTOPvY REVIEW. 



parietals tlirougli the two first-fifths of the sagittal suture. This and 

 the sutures generally, inclusive of the spheno-frontal and spheno- 

 parietal, are quite distinct, so far as can be seen both within and with- 

 out. There is only one exception, viz., the left occipito-mastoid, which 

 is completely efiaced, so that the left temporal bone is ossified to the 

 occipital ; wdiilst on the opposite side, the two bones are separated by 

 a distinctly open suture. Neither the dolichocephalism nor the post 

 coronal depression in this skull can possibly be explained by 

 synostosis. 



A skull from a very ancient interment, which was discovered about 

 a mile and a half from Bath, in December, 1 863, is perhaps of some 

 importance, in reference to the question before us. In digging for a 

 reservoir in a valley at Charlcombe, the workmen exposed a rude cist of 

 oolitic stone, containing the skeleton of a girl or young woman, not more 

 than 17 years of age, as shown by the separated epiphyses of such of 

 the bones as were preserved. The strata covering the cist are de- 

 scribed as consisting of, 



ft. in. 



1. Turf and surface mould 10 



2. Drift of oolite and clay 10 



3. Peat, containing fragments of fossil coral, } -i p 



pieces of hazel, bones of Eed-deer or Elk ) 



4. Blue tenacious clay 5 



Total depth 11 6 



The body had been interred in a partially-upright or sitting posture, 

 in a small cist ; which was about three feet in depth, and had a 

 capstone of fossil coral, which rested immediately on the skull. 

 Nothing whatever was found with the skeleton. Though not covered 

 by a long barrow, this interment must have been within the limits of 

 the British tribe of Dobuni who bordered on the Belgse, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Aqu^e Solis, and in whose district long and chambered 

 barrow^s so much abound. It probably belonged to the very people 

 by whom those peculiar tombs were raised. 



The skull is smooth, thin, and delicate ; is of decidedly elongate 

 or dolichocephalic type, the greatest breadth (5-3 in.) being to the 

 length (7*2 in.) as '73 to I'OO. The height (5*4 in.) is in the proportion 

 of -75 to the length. The greatest length is in a line from the 

 glabella to the centre of the upper scale of the occiput. In the 

 brachy cephalic class of British skulls the greatest length is u^sually 



