74 ' NATURAL SCIENCE. July. 



species and get enough rarities or novelties to make his trip pay 

 commercially, and, therefore, would never think of visiting islands 

 where a few known species would alone be found. 



Oldfield Thomas. 



VI.— ANTHROPOLOGY. 



When one takes into consideration the length of the cruise and 

 the interesting places visited by the " Challenger," regret can only 

 be felt that more Anthropological work was not accomplished. Apart 

 from the efforts of the late H. N. Moseley and R. von Willemoes- 

 Suhm, it does not appear that anyone was interested in this science. 

 A great opportunity, as is usual in our official expeditions, was almost 

 neglected. Even the photographs were as a whole unsatisfactory. 

 The general instructions were, however, wide enough, as the following 

 extracts will show : — • 



" Every opportunity should be taken of obtaining photographs of 

 native races to one scale ; and of making such observations as are 

 practicable with regard to their physical characteristics, language, 

 habits, implements and antiquities. It would be advisable that 

 specimens of hair of unmixed races should in all cases be obtained." 

 And again, the " special interest " of the ethnology of New Britain 

 and New Ireland was pointed out ; but the " Challenger " did not go 

 to either place, and spent only six days at the Admiralty Islands. 



A small collection of skulls and bones was obtained, which in 

 the able hands of Professor Sir William Turner has yielded 

 interesting results ; but this is due not so much to the material 

 collected, valuable though it was, as to the fact that Sir William has 

 made use of other data. Of the 153 crania of which measurements 

 are given, only sixty-four were " Challenger " specimens. These 

 consisted of the Bush Race (2), Fuegian and Patagonian (5), 

 Australian (3), Admiralty Islands (13), Sandwich Islands (33), 

 Chatham Island (4), and New Zealand (4). In addition, reference is 

 made to the investigations of other craniologists, so that each collec- 

 tion of skulls forms an excuse for a little monograph of that particular 

 people. Very few bones of the skeleton were collected ; but by 

 utilising that important series of human skeletons in the Museum of the 

 University of Edinburgh, Sir William has written a very valuable 

 essay on comparative osteology. These two Reports practically con- 

 stitute the only text-book in the English language on these subjects, 

 but it is necessarily extremely fragmentary. It will be seen that, 

 with the exception of the Bush and Fuegian crania, all the specimens 

 came from Oceania, and the " Comparison of the Crania of the 

 Pacific Islands " is a masterly summary of the ethnology of that 

 region of the globe. Even in some of the remote island groups there 

 is a diversity in the cranial characters. " These variations can be 

 sufficiently accounted for on the theory that two distinct races, a 

 dolichocephalic Papuan [Melanesian] and a brachycephalic Maori 



