374 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 182 



•\yoman (USNM 380856) with minor variants in the arterial canals 

 of the cervical vertebrae. In contrast, only one infant (USNM 

 380918) at the Tollifero site showed a partially divided basioccipital 

 bone. Other developmental aberrations, including accessory artic- 

 ulations, septal apertures of the humerus, and other minor variants 

 appear in the skeletons of both series, but their frequency and sites 

 suggest nothing particularly unusual. This apparent difference 

 in the frequency of common anomalies may be due to the difference 

 in the size and completeness of the population samples, so that con- 

 jectures about inbreeding, alteration in intrauterine environment, and 

 survival of the less fit are not justified. 



Only in the case of the "inflanm^iatory changes" is the evidence 

 clear as to differences. At the Tollifero site, there is one child 

 (USNM 380890) whose long bones show inflammatory changes of 

 some sort. The cortex of the tibiae and lower ends of the femora 

 and one humerus are thickened and porous; and areas of porosity 

 appear on other bones of the skeleton. The surfaces of the limb bones, 

 particularly the tibiae, are rather porous; and the tibiae appear 

 swollen and bowed. (The other bones of this skeleton, as noted 

 previously, are badly damaged.) The tibiae of a few of the older 

 adults seem somewhat denser and smoother than usual ; and vascular 

 indentations appear on the posterior shafts of one or two. It is 

 impossible to say whether these are simply normal variations, normal 

 age changes, or residual evidence of long-healed inflammation. 



Although only one of the Tollifero skeletons shows unmistakable 

 evidence of "inflammatory changes," such changes appear much more 

 frequently in the Clarksville long bones. Upon examination, these 

 appear to fall into at least four distinct categories. The first type 

 consists simply of increased vascularity of the surface of the shaft, 

 usually on the tibia; the form of the shaft is normal, and the X-rays 

 show no changes in the density or thickness of the cortex, or in the 

 medullary cavity. A second category includes two cases of obvious 

 infection. In one (USNM 380856), a fractured wrist had become 

 infected, and in healing had left a fistula; but the infection seems 

 not to have spread. In the other (USNM 380883), the focus of 

 infection seems to have been on one of the tibiae which shows signs of 

 suppuration, and uneven bone reaction; and the infection seems to 

 have spread to other bones of the skeleton. This latter was tentatively 

 diagnosed as osteomyelitis by two pathologists who examined both 

 the bones and the radiographs. The third ty]")e consists of localized 

 swellings on the bones, again usually on the tibia, but occasionally 

 on other bones. These swellings, which usually occur on only a 

 single bone, appear radiographically as ellipsoidal z&nes of decreased 

 density seeming to have originated on the surface of the bone, and 



