Scott. — Osteology of the Maori and Moriori. 33 



males this averages 103-8mm. This is ahnost identical with 

 what I find in the male Maori skull. The seven females have 

 a mean diameter of 98-6. The extent of variation is from 

 116mm. to 98mm. in the males, while in one of the females 

 the axis is 95mm. 



In this dimension the Moriori skull is, like the Maori, 

 exceeded in Professor Flower's tahle already referred to only 

 by the Esquimaux, and to a very shght extent indeed by the 

 Fijian. 



Comparing the basi- nasal length with the rest of the 

 mesial vertical circumference, as we did with the Maori 

 skulls, we find that, taking the mean of all the measurements, 

 the direct length from basion to nasion is 24-7 per cent, of the 

 curve over the vertex between the same two points. This is 

 the mean of both sexes combined. Or, making the similar 

 comparison suggested by Professor Cleland, w^e get the pro- 

 portion between the opistho-nasal diameter and the opistho- 

 nasal arc to be as 1 to 2-69. 



Treating the upper and lower divisions of the transverse 

 vertical circumference of the brain-case in the same way we 

 find that the mean infra-auricular distance is to the supra- 

 auricular arc as 46-5 to 100. 



Nasio-opisthic Median Arc. — The frontal portion of this 

 curve exceeds the parietal and occipital in twenty of the 

 thirty-two male skulls examined, while in two more, though 

 longer than the occipital, it is equalled by the parietal. In 

 five cases the parietal is the longest ; in five also the occi- 

 pital exceeds the other two. The parietal is the shortest in 

 thirteen male skulls, the occipital in sixteen. The female 

 skulls have the frontal arc longest thrice, the parietal also 

 tlii'ice, and the occipital once. The only case amongst either 

 Morioris or Maoris in which the frontal is the shortest sub- 

 division of the arc is the Moriori of doubtful sex, numbered 40 

 in Table III. 



Shax)e of the Cranial Vault. — As already mentioned, the 

 frontal region in a large proportion of the skulls examined is 

 in a very marked degree flat and retreating. This has been 

 noted by other observers. The roof-like form of the vertex 

 in the parietal region is also a very noticeable feature of the 

 brain-case. The median ridge varies in height, but it is pre- 

 sent in almost all skulls, and the parietal bone between it 

 and the eminences is almost invariably either flat or even 

 hollowed. Those few skulls which have more rounded vaults 

 are, for the most part, female, or scarcely full grown. This 

 type of vertex, especially when combined with the usually 

 pro-Tiinent parietal eminences, gives to most of these skulls, 

 when viewed from behind, a markedly pentagonal form. The 

 narrowness of the frontal region as compared with the parietal 

 3 



