13 



1. Eleven described by Harper and Clarke (5) . . 11 



2. Three stated by Harper and Clarke to be those 



of half castes 3 



3. Three rejected by Harper and Clarke .... 3 



4. One complete skull discovered by us in a cellar . . 1 



5. Two fragments discovered by us in a cellar ... 2 



Total 20 

 After a most careful examination of the three crania stated by 

 Harper and Clarke to be those of half castes, and of those other 

 three stated by the same authors not to be Tasmanian, we unhesita- 

 tingly came to the conclusion that all six were undoubtedly genuine 

 Tasmanian crania. Harper and Clarke do not, in their publication, 

 give any reasons whatsoever for their rejection of these crania, nor 

 could Mr. Clarke, when we interviewed him on the subject in January 

 last, furnish us with any satisfactory reasons for such rejection, in 

 fact we were enabled to convince him of the error of his attitude. 

 It must be further remembered that neither Mr. Clarke nor his coad^ 

 jutor is a practised anatomist, nor is Mr. Harper a medical man, it 

 is therefore no reproach to either of these gentlemen to say that they 

 erred through overcautiousness. In our communication to the Royal 

 Society of Victoria (6) we have fully set forth our positive reasons 

 for stating that these six crania are undoubtedly those of genuine 

 Tasmanian aboriginals, it is therefore unnecessary to pursue the subject 

 here, suffice it to say that those reasons are sufficiently convincing 

 and that these six crania, together with the remaining three discovered 

 by us in a cellar of the Tasmanian Museum Hobart constitute the 

 first nine of the present discovery. 



Seven more were discovered by us to be in private possession in 

 Hobart, but nothing would induce the possessors of these crania to 

 part with them, we did, however, succeed in obtaining a loan of these 

 specimens, all of which are in perfect condition, for the recording of 

 the necessary dioptrographic drawings and measurements. 



Nine more were discovered in the private possession of a gentleman 

 in the interior of Tasmania, but here again nothing would induce the 

 proprietor to part with them. Passing thence to Launceston we found 

 five beautiful specimens in the Museum at Launceston, one in private 

 possession in the same town, and two more in the possession of the 

 Devonport municipal authorities. All of these crania were placed at 

 our disposal for scientific observation and all are absolutely new to 

 the world of science. 



