Scott. — Osteology of the Maori and Moriori. 55 



antero-posterior and transverse diameters of the shaft in its 

 upper part. The transverse diameter is taken as 100. The 

 pecuhar flattening and widening of the shaft at this level was 

 first described by Sir William Turner in a Maori femur, but h 

 w^as subsequently recognised as being a common feature of the 

 femora of savage races. In giving numerical expression to 

 this proportion I make the measurements at the level where 

 the spiral line crosses below the inner border of the root of 

 the lesser trochanter. This point is, as a rule, at the widest 

 part of the bone, and is fairly regular and easily determined. 

 The average index of the fifty bones measured is 64-3, and the 

 variation is between 81-3 and 54-8. This flattening I find is 

 an adult characteristic, and is not seen in young bones. 

 For the sake of comparison, I measured the shaft at the 

 same level, and calculated the indices in tvrenty European 

 femora. The average of these indices is 86-6, showing that 

 the shaft has here a much rounder section than in the Maori. 



Though I did not measure the angle that the neck of the 

 femur makes with the transverse vertical x^lane, I noticed that 

 the neck in Maori bones, as a rule, projects more forwards 

 than in the European femora with which I v^'as able to com- 

 pare them. 



Tibia. 



I give two longitudinal measurements of this bone. One, 

 the " maximum," includes the malleolus, but not the spmes. 

 The other excludes both malleolus and spines. These 

 measurements were taken in forty bones, and the average of 

 the maximum length is 354-8mm. The longest tibia has a 

 length of 394mm. ; the shortest measures 319mm. The 

 average length of the right bones exceeds that of the left by 

 5 •3mm. 



The measurements from which the index of 2^l<^tycnemia 

 was deduced were taken as directed by Broca, at the level of 

 the medullary foramen ; and the index was calculated accord- 

 ing to the formula — 



Transverse diameter x 100 

 Antero-posterior dianaetar 



Forty-five bones allowed of these measurements being taken, 

 and the average index of the series was found to be 64' 2. 

 The most platycnemic bone has an index of 53'1, vvhile that 

 in which the lateral compression is least marked has an index 

 of 76-5. In most bones the rounding of the posterior surface 

 which is characteristic of platycnemia is well seen. Mr. 

 Arthur Thomson* gives the indices of two Maori tibiae mea- 



* " On the Influence of Posture in the Form of the Articular Surfaces 

 of the Tibia and Astragalus " : Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, 1890. 



