12 



Transactions, — Zoology. 



The average interorbital distance is 20mm. 



The average orbital index of Professor Flower's Whangarei 

 series, 91-9, is much higher than that of any of my groups. 

 Professor Turner's three, on the other hand, have a lower 

 index — 80-3. Combining their results with my Auckland 

 group, we have an average of 89-3 for these northern skulls. 



Nasal Index. 



The average index of the Ngaitahu skulls of both sexes 

 places them in the lowest possible position in the mesorhine 

 group. The males are also mesorhine, but the females are 

 leptorhine. The range of variation is 19'2. Sixteen of these 

 South Island skulls, or 48-5 per cent., are leptorhine ; thirteen, 

 or 37'4: per cent., are mesorhine ; while only four, or 12-1 per 

 ■cent., are platyrhine. The only leptorhine group is that from 

 the south-west coast of the North Island. The east coast 

 skulls are mesorhine, and those from the northern districts 

 are higher in the same division. The general average for 

 both Islands places the Maori skull very low down in the 

 mesorhine division. Sixty-six skulls were available for the 

 required measurements, and, of these, twenty-nine, or 43'9 

 per cent., are leptorhine; thirty, or 45-5 per cent., are meso- 

 rhine ; seven, or 10-6 per cent., are platyrhine. 



The highest average is, as we have just said, found in the 

 Auckland group, where 25 per cent, of the skulls measured 

 are platyrhine ; but a small group like this, containing only 

 twelve skulls, does not allow of conclusions being drawn as to 

 the character of the nasal opening in the tribes of the far 

 north. By making use, however, as before, of Sir William 

 Elower's collection from Whangarei, and of those from the 

 same part of the Island described by Professor Turner, we 

 get a set of thirty-four, and these give a result but little 

 different from that given in the table. Sir William Flower's 

 skulls have an average nasal index of 49-9 ; Professor 

 Turner's of 50-4 ; and the general average derived from their 

 results and mine is 50' 2. We get therefore a nasal index of 

 50-2 from thirty-four skulls collected about Auckland, and in 



