101 



taken by Mr. Russell Young and Mr. Arthur Butler, accom- 

 panies this paper). Nos. 3 and 4, especially the latter, have 

 a very sinister appearance on account of this. 



Truganini, in her photographs taken during life, appears to 

 have this appearance strongly marked, but it is hardly notice- 

 able in the skull ; however, in a 'photograph of the cranium 

 the peculiarity is more apparent. The molar bones as a rule 

 are small if anything, and their front thrown well forward. 

 The anterior nares are broad at the base and narrow very 

 gradually ; in some of the skulls they appear almost rect- 

 angular. The nasal spine is almost obliterated in most of 

 the skulls, in the remainder it is distinctly double. The 

 nasal bones, where present, are high and very concave at the 

 ends, and then sink somewhat abruptly, and at the root have 

 that pinched appearance noted by Topinard. The superior 

 maxilla adds to the contracted appearance of the face, the 

 ascending process dips backwards, and further, just below 

 the inferior border of the orbit, and near its junction with 

 the molar bone, quite a well is formed in the majority of 

 the skulls. 



Topinard in his report on six Tasmanian crania, published 

 in Bonwick's " Daily life of the Tasmanians," notices that 

 the superior border of the orbit projects over the inferior, and 

 compares this with the Australian skulls, in which the con- 

 trary is the rule. His table shows that the average projection 

 in five male Tasmanian crania is 72, while in 10 Australian 

 skulls the mean is — 1 §. Our measurements do not go to prove 

 this projection of the superior border of the orbit to be con- 

 stant in Tasmanian crania, though it is usually the case. 



The projection was determined with a Topinard' s cranio- 

 phore, the skull being placed on the alveolo-condylar plane. 

 Owing to the very broken state of the skulls, especially of 

 the base, we could only take the measurement satisfactorily 

 in six skulls. In four of these the projection in question 

 was noticeable, and averaged 3*7, while in the fifth, an un- 

 doubted Tasmanian skull (that of Augustus, a male, aged 50 

 years), the lower border projected beyond the upper for 3mm. 

 The sixth (No. 2) has already been referred to. In all the 

 skulls, the orbits are rectangular in shape ; in the male 

 skulls this is particularly noticeable ; in fact, in three or four 

 they are almost perfectly oblong. 



In all the male skulls the palate is parabolic in shape, but 

 the female palates show the IJ formation ; in Truganini, the 

 palate is slightly elliptical. 



Sutures. — The coronal suture is simple in every case except 

 in the region of the stephanions ; the sagittal suture is some- 



§ In one undoubtedly Australian skull in my possession, the superior border of 

 the orbit projects over the inferior 7mm. — W. R. H. 



