196 VOL UTION AND DISEA SE. 



him that they were always in this fish ; he therefore 

 concluded them to be natural to it. 



Bones of this kind are not uncommon in osteological 

 collections. Cuvier explains this by stating that they 

 are brought home as curiosities by travellers who have 

 eaten these fish. No one has attempted to explain these 

 curious bones, which are very characteristic ; at one end 

 they present a tumour about the size of a chestnut, very 

 hard, smooth, and as dense as ivory. Articulating with 

 the tumour by means of a shackle-joint, is one, often 

 two, small rays. On section the outline of the ray can 

 be clearly defined running through the midst of the 

 tumour (fig. 105). The fish on which Bell's original 

 description was founded is preserved in the museum of 

 the Royal College of Surgeons, and a drawing of the 

 specimen is given in " The Transactions of the Patho- 

 logical Society of London," vol. xxxix. 



A consideration of the bones of the Cluztodon is of 

 interest in connection with what are known as the horned 

 men of Africa. In 1883 Professor Macalister com- 

 municated to the Royal Irish Academy a photograph 

 of one of these men, who came from Akim on the west 

 coast of Africa (6 N. latitude and i E. longitude). 

 From an examination of the photograph, as well as 

 from the descriptions of those who had examined the 

 man, the so-called horns appear to be outgrowths from 

 the malar bone and nasal process of the upper jaw. 

 This is by no means an infrequent situation for exostoses 

 in Europeans, and, as a rule, such outgrowths are sym- 

 metrical, and give a very hideous appearance to the 

 individual so unfortunate as to possess them. Such 



