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communication on the use of the cranio-facial line in determining racial and 

 individual characters on the living subject. The relation of the diameters of 

 the cranium formerly relied on had heen found unsatisfactory. He specially 

 recommended a line closely resembling that suggested by the sculptor Char- 

 les Rochet. It connects the two auditory foramina, forming a slight curve the 

 superior border of which connects the internal commissures of the eyes. 

 This line, it i» claimed, divides the ideal , normal head into two, perfectly 

 equal parts, although in nature, of course, this proportion is not maintained 

 but varies as a racial character and in individuals. The relations of the lines 

 may also indicate the cranial capacity as the plane of the curve continued 

 posteriorly is approximately the base of the skull. He farther pointed-out 

 that the distance between the distal extremities of the curve gives the width 

 of the head and the face ; and that a series of curves, described from the 

 fixed points indicated, offers, probably, the simplest and most accurate me- 

 thod of obtaining significant head-measures on the living subject. — Dr. Har- 

 rison Allen commented on the difficulty of obtaining satisfactory cranial 

 measurements and referred to Oldfield Thomas's taken from the outer margin 

 of the orbits to determine the projection of the nose. He did not think the 

 true horizontal plane of the skull could be fixed. The so-called Frankfurt 

 plane is the one most commonly accepted. — Dr. Seneca Egbert stated 

 that he had demonstrated the action of the X rays through plates of platinum 

 from ordinary sun-light. Illustrative pictures were exhibited and the pu- 

 blished results of other experiments were discussed. — Prof. Maxwell 

 Sommerville exhibited beautiful specimens of chipped arrow-heads made 

 from common green bottle-glass by the natives of northwestern Australia. 

 He also called attention to a stone carved to resemble a miniature grotesque 

 head from the valley of the Delaware opposite Milford and an object used 

 in phallic worship by the natives of Poonah, India. — Dr. D. G. Brinton 

 called attention to the importance of obtaining systematic data for the study 

 of American anthropology and suggested the wide distribution, under the 

 auspices of the Anthropological Section of the Academy, of circulars of in- 

 quiry similar to those in use by the committee appointed by the British As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of Science for the study of the ethnography of 

 Great Britain. 



March 3th., 1896. — Mr. Jos. Will cox presented a collection of 308 

 recent and fossil Fulgurs from various localities and geological horizons 

 illustrating with extraordinary completeness the evolution of the forms. — 

 A preliminary announcement was made of the presentation by Mr. A. Do- 

 naldson Smith of fine collections of mammals, birds, reptiles and insects 

 made by him during his recent exploration of western Somali Land, Africa. 



March 10, 1896. — O. F. Cook. Summary of new Liberian Polydes- 

 moidea. Additional diagnostic characters are given of thirty one species for- 

 merly published together with descriptions of nineteen related forms not 

 found in Liberia. — Mr. Jos. Willcox and Prof. Angelo Heilprin spoke 

 of the evolutionary value of the collection of 308 recent and fossil Ful- 

 ffurs presented at the last meeting of the Academy by the former who claimed 

 that some twentyfive species had been reduced to three or four because of 

 the presence of complete series of intermediate forms. — Edw. J. Nolan, 

 Recording Secretary. 



