60 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY . [BULL. 62 
XLV. MUNSEE AND OTHER FEMORA: RELATIONS BETWEEN THE BICONDYLAR 
AND MAXIMUM LENGTH OF THE BONES 
Other United 
5 . American 
nadiaas States Ttalians 
Munsee negro 
whites 
ue | F. | we | w. | oe. | | Mw] Fe 
Number of paired bones..............-.. 12 12 55 22 | 100 50 31 8 12 8 
Average excess of the maximum over | 
the bicondylar length: 
(Rene, ernie eee Baek een See 5.35 | 5.6 A) BSNS Obu a SerSeleas 2.6 | 4 3:2 
19-3 Ud 1 Se ee eee 4.2/ 6.45] 4.2] 3.2] 2.55] 3.8] 2.58] 2.1 | 3.25 3.5 
The difference between the maximum and bicondylar length 
of the femur in some racial groups averages greater in the females 
than in the males, while in others the condition is reversed. Among 
the Munsee the females show the greater difference (6 mm. to slightly 
less than 5 mm. in the males); but this peculiarity is not shared by 
other Indian groups. <A condition similar to that of the Munsee exists 
in this respect among the United States whites, where the difference 
between the two lengths averages 3.8 mm. in the females and only 
2.8 mm. in the males; while among the Italians, and to a less extent 
the negroes, the disproportion is greater in the males (Italians: 
m. 2.8, f. 2.35 mm; negroes: m. 3.6, f. 3.35 mm.). The excess of the 
difference in males in these groups was unexpected, the usual impres- 
sion being that the axis of the female femur is generally more oblique 
than that of the male; and the more oblique the axis, the greater 
should be the difference between the bicondylar and maximum 
length of the bone. 
As to the two sides of the body, in the majority of the groups 
whose femora were studied, greater average differences were found 
between the two lengths of the bone on the right than on the left; 
in a few groups, however, such as the Munsee, the United States 
whites, and the United States negro females, the condition was 
reversed. 
These interesting conditions and exceptions make it probable 
that an extended special study of the relations of the two femoral 
lengths would be well repaid by the results. 
The relation in bicondylar length of the Munsee female to the 
male femora is as 92.7 to 100, and practically the same result was 
obtained in other Indians (92.65 to 100). In United States whites 
the proportion is as 93 to 100; in American negroes, as 93.1 to 100. 
These are striking similarities in people so far apart racially. 
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