805 



The remarkable skull above described and compared belongs to the ' Philosophical Insti- 

 tution of Bristol,' and, through the liberality of the Council of that Institution, the oppor- 

 tunity was granted of pursuing the above comparisons, which could not have been made on 

 the plaster cast alone. 



Presented by the Philosophical Institution of Bristol. 



Order BIMANA. 



Genus Homo. 



T\ t. l f 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 3 3 on 



Dental formula : i , c , p , m 5=5=82. 



The symbols of the teeth are : i \, i2, c, p 3, p 4, ml, m2, m 3 ; showing that the teeth which, in 

 reference to the typical series, are not developed in Man, are the outermost incisor, 1 3, and the first 

 and second premolars, p 1 & p 2, on each side of both jaws. In these characters the dentition of the 

 genus Homo agrees with that of the Catarhine Quadrumana, but the teeth are of equal length, and the 

 series is uninterrupted. 



The vertebral formula is : 7 cervical, 12 dorsal, 5 lumbar, 5 sacral, and 3 caudal. 



Melanian (dark-brown or black) variety. 



5184. An artificially articulated skeleton, with the mature dentition complete, of a 

 female Australian. 



The essential osteological characters of the Human species are fully manifested in this, in 

 some respects, lowest race of the Melanian variety : such, e. g., as the well-known modifica- 

 tions of the pelvis and pelvic extremities for maintaining the erect posture, and the specific 

 distinctions of the skull, as described in the comparison of that of the Gorilla with the skull 

 of the Negro. 



The inferior characters of the Melanian as compared with other races of Mankind are illus- 

 trated in the present skeleton by the narrowness of the cranium, the prominence of the alveolar 

 parts of the jaws, the flatness of the nose-bones, and the recession of the chin. The squa- 

 mosal unites with the frontal on both sides of the cranium, as in the Chimpanzee. 



The bifurcate spines of the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae are the shortest, those of the 

 third and sixth are next in' length : the spines of the second and seventh are the longest and 

 strongest ; the former is notched, the latter expanded and obtuse, at its extremity. The ribs 

 of the twelfth dorsal vertebra are little more than an inch in length. The metapophyses are 

 distinctly developed on the eleventh dorsal, increase in length in the twelfth, and attain the 

 upper part of the anterior zygapophyses in the first and following lumbar vertebrae. The 

 diapophysis, which is distinct but short in the last two dorsals, is suddenly increased in 



