232 BtJEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 52 



cm. 



Height, biauricular line-bregma, approximately 12. 4 



Circumference (above supraorbital ridges), approximately 52. 9 



Transverse arc (from roots of zygomge above meatus, across bregma) 31. 6 



Breadth of base between points of mastoids 11. 8 



Breadth between the distal parts of the lateral angular processes of the frontal 



bones 11. 



Breadth between the points of intersection of orbital border and fronto-malar 



suture 9. 8 



Diameter frontal minimum 9. 7 



Diameter frontal maximum, near 12. 



Nasion-bregma arc 12. 4 



Bregma-lambda arc (before repair was probably slightly smaller) 14. 3 



The skull shows no trace of disease. 



There is absolutely nothing more primitive in form or size or in 

 individual features of the specimen than is generally met in crania 

 of the American Indians. 



Conclusions. — As a result of the above examination, and after due 

 consideration of the meager data relating to the specimen, it is the 

 writer's opinion that, on account of defective information in regard 

 to the circumstances of the find, and on the basis of the somatologic 

 evidence, the Arrecifes skull should be excluded from all further 

 consideration relative to early, i. e. geologically ancient, man in 

 America. 



The whole subject of antiquity in this case appears unfounded. 

 Holding in view the known facts concerning the Arrecifes skull, it is 

 impossible to settle on a single feature of importance wliich would 

 point unequivocally to any great age of the specimen. Under these 

 circumstances, the question forces itself: Wliat could not be made, 

 in a similar manner, out of such North American remains as the 

 Osprey (Florida) skeletons, described in the writer's report on early 

 man in North America. One of these specimens is inclosed in hard 

 rock, another is more nearly petrified than the bones of a mastodon 

 from another part of Florida, and the third is embedded in^ and con- 

 verted into iron ore. There are, moreover, in our possession, cave 

 skulls and skeletons embedded in solid breccia, or thickly covered 

 with calcareous deposits, as well as more or less petrified human 

 remains from shell mounds. But there is still another question that 

 presses strongly, namely: What may be the results of further years 

 of similar loose gathering and of so easily satisfied anthropologic 

 work ? 



