TRANSACTIONS OF WAGNER 

 12 



HAWAIIAN SKULLS 



It appears that both specimens are of persons who belonged to the same 

 variable type, as seen in the resemblances above noted, yet were separated by 

 circumstances in conditions of life which embraced differences in nutrition, 

 and yielded some equally striking individual contrasts. 



The Lachrymal Bone 



While classified with the bones of the orbit, one cannot separate the 

 lachrymal bone from the outline of the nasal chamber, or, indeed, as compara- 

 tive anatomy teaches, from the face. It is of interest to note that the hamular 

 process will not infrequently articulate with the maxilla, where the base of the 

 ascending process enters into the composition of the inferior orbital margin. 

 Specimen No. 1751, H. U., which, in many respects, showed evidences of 

 interstitial absorption in the wall of the nasal chamber, exhibits the hamular 

 process marked by numerous minute foramina and of different textures; a 

 peculiarity, in all probability, the result arising from a centre of ossification. 



The Prenasal Fossa 



In the specimen No. 3, P. U., aet. 25, ?, the nasal eminence (a) is raised 

 well above the floor of the nose. The fossa proper (b) is defined between this 

 eminence and the openings (c, c, c, c) which are placed over the roots of the 

 incisor teeth. The vomer (e) retains the sulcus for the accommodation of the 

 triangular cartilage. The well-defined contours of the bone overlie the incisor 

 crest just over the basal eminence. The maxillae exhibit marked asymmetry 

 at the incisor region. On the right side the parts are of normal proportion. 

 But on the left they are stunted, a peculiarity embracing the alveoli of the 

 incisor, which are scarcely half the size of those on the opposite side. The 

 left fossa, while as wide as the right, is not so deep, and extends over the 

 region of the roots of the teeth. The alveolar line (d) is unusually bold and 

 trenchant on the right side, but is not well defined on the left below the level 

 of the basil eminence. Indeed, the fossa is insensibly blended with the alveolar 

 region over the almost rudimentary incisors. Other peculiarities of the 

 maxillae should not escape notice. The infraorbital margin of the left maxilla? 

 is with open suture. The part here called the ectal (see Infraorbital Suture) 

 passes over the ental, thus excluding it from the margin and entering into 



