58 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 38 



riium, in no way deformed or diseased. The nasal bones are not 

 above medium in size or prominence, and Leidy must have compared 

 them with unusually small specimens to arrive at the conclusion that 

 they are &quot; large and prominent.&quot; The glabella and supraorbital 

 ridges are of moderate masculine dimensions, and remind the observer 

 in no way of primitive cranial forms. There is but little left of the 

 forehead, but what is present shows a fair degree of arching. The 

 orbits are not massive and were mesoseme or slightly megaseme in 

 form. The mastoids are well developed, masculine. The walls of 

 the .skull are of moderate thickness only. The maximum antero- 

 posterior diameter (from glabella to most prominent point of occi 

 put) measured accurately amounts to 16.9 cm., but it must have 

 been a little greater before the specimen was damaged; the greatest 

 breadth can not be measured, but must have been near 14 cm. ; in all 

 probability the skull was mesocephalic. The sutures, so far as shown, 

 are all patent, or were so before the fossilization took place. There 

 is nothing unusual about the remaining visible parts. 



As to the geological age of the skull, it is safe to say that from the 

 somatological standpoint there is absolutely nothing about the speci 

 men which could not be found in recent crania of Florida Indians. 

 All anatomical indications of great antiquity are wholly lacking. 

 The small size of the skull as well as its form is very nearly dupli 

 cated by nos. 228451 and 228452, two comparatively modern Indian 

 skulls in the National Museum collection, from south of Lake Okee- 

 chobee, Florida. 



The North Osprey bones in the Museum collection consist of about 

 twenty pieces of one or two adult skulls, parts of two left ossa 

 innominata, a femur, a tibia, parts of an ulna and of two fibula?, 

 several .vertebrae, portions of ribs, a patella, and a number of tarsal 

 bones and phalanges. 



The skull pieces are rather above medium (Indian) in thickness 

 (the right parietal 6 to 9 mm.), but show no compression or any 

 abnormality. It is not possible to reconstruct enough of either 

 cranium to show its size and form, but the size can be judged of as 

 quite ordinary, and as to the form the uniform convexity of the 

 occipital bone speaks against any higher grade of dolichocephaly. 

 The upper jaw (plate vi), which is left almost entire, shows a 2.6 

 cm. wide nasal aperture, a high and strong nasal spine, and quite a 

 marked grade of alveolar prognathism less than in the negro and 

 about equal to that of the present-day Indian. There were 16 

 second dentition teeth of moderate size, the canines and the incisors 

 being rather submedium. All the teeth that are still present show 

 a moderately advanced degree of wear. The palate measures, ex 

 ternally, about 5.4 cm. in length and 6.2 cm. in greatest breadth, 

 and is quite deep and parabolic in form. The lower jaw is appar- 



