498 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



same form; or they consider the age of the remains, though no 

 doubt early Quaternary, to be less than that estimated by Dubois; 

 and finally some incline to regard the remains as those of early man 

 rather than an intermediary being, while still others consider that 

 they represent merely a superior extinct form of ape.^ 



BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIMENS. 

 (Plates 2, 3. text fig. 2.) 



On account of peculiar circumstances an attempt to describe first 

 hand the important pieces under consideration meets with serious 

 difficulties. It would surely seem proper and desirable that speci- 

 mens of such value to science should be freely accessible to well- 

 qualified investigators and that accurate casts be made available to 

 scientific institutions, particularly after 20 years have elapsed since 

 the discovery of the originals. Regrettably, however, all that has 

 thus far been furnished to the scientific world is a cast of the skull 

 cap, the commercial replicas of which yield measurements different 

 from those reported taken of the original, and several not thoroughly 

 satisfactory illustrations ; no reproductions can be had of the femur 

 and the teeth, and not only the study but even a view of the origi- 

 nals, which are still in the care of their discoverer, are denied to sci- 

 entific men. Under these anomalous conditions it is only possible 

 to follow Dr. Dubois's old information.^ 



The skull cap (pi. 2) measures in greatest length 18.5 (on cast 

 18.1) cm., in greatest (parietal) breadth 13 (on cast 13.3) cm.^, and 

 at the minimum of the frontal constriction 8.T cm.^ It is dolicho- 

 cephalic, its outline as seen from above is oblongly ovoid, narrowing 

 considerably forward, and it is very low. It presents excessively 

 prominent though not massive supraorbital arch and a very sloping 

 front. The frontal bone, in addition, shows externally and along its 

 middle a well-defined ridge, running from a short distance above the 

 glabella toward bregma, and a marked low protuberance just forward 

 of the bregma. The sagittal region is relatively flat and smooth, and 

 the occiput presents a dull transverse crest, comiecting as in apes, 

 though in much less pronounced manner, with the supramastoid crest 

 on each side. 



1 For numerous of the earlier phases of these controversies see Dubois's paper in the 

 Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society ; also that in the Smithsonian Report for 1898, 

 p. 449 et seq. 



-The extended and meritorious work on the skuU by Schwalbe (op. clt.) was made on 

 a cast, which evideOtJy was in all respects identical witfh the one in the U. S. National 

 Museum, but the measurements on which do not exactly agree with those given by Dubois 

 on the original. These differences, however unfortunate, do not, of course, in any way 

 detract from the importance of the original. 



3 For comparison it may be stated that similar measurements on an ordinary white 

 male American dolichocephalic cranium give approximately 19.1, 14.3, and 10 centimeters ; 

 on female, 18.3, 1?:7, and 9.6 centimeters. 



