62 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY (BULL. 62 
condition is reversed. Curiously the same slight excess in strength 
of the left femur in the male and of the right in the female is exhibited 
also by the United States whites, while in the UnitedStates negroes, in 
both sexes, the bones of the two sides are exactly equal, as is shown 
in the following table: 
XLVII. STRENGTH OF THE FEMUR ON THE TWO SIDES OF THY BODY 
MEAN DIAMETER AT THE MIDDLE OF THE SHAFT 
United United 
Munsee States States 
whites negroes 
Male: cm. cm. cm. 
FRIST S 2 aay et a Se an. ee See sone 2.73 2.89 2.91 
172) te SE ee ees ee end Be EERE ee ee tet A Peeing Soe ene 2.75 2.91 2.91 
Female: | 
Rips! 359.93 0. Pee SW ah dt coy Bs 8a ee eee Bee oe ee 2. 46 2. 74 2.60 
Dieitet eas = Se Ae eee ee Be aa a ak Se eee. 6 See 2. 43 2. 64 2. 60 
Taking the antero-posterior and lateral diameters at the middle of 
the shaft separately, we find several more interesting points. The 
antero-posterior diameter in the Munsee (and the same is true of the 
United States whites and United States negroes, as will be seen by the 
following table) is practically equivalent in the right and left femora 
in the males; but except in the whites it 1s perceptibly smaller on the 
left side in the females of all groups. On the other hand, the lateral 
diameter, excepting in the probably too small male negro series, is 
invariably larger on the left than on the right side in both males and 
females. Thus it may be said that the left femur is almost invariably 
slightly broader on the average than the right, and this especially in 
the females of probably all racial groups. 
These interesting conditions are most clearly shown by the shaft 
s di ‘ter lateral X 100 * : : ° 
index (gmecr anieropateria,)» Which in both sexes and in all the racial 
subdivisions is higher on the left side. 
The index in the Munsee femora is noteworthy in another respect: 
It is decidedly smaller in both sexes of this group than it is in the 
American negro and especially in the United States whites. Judging 
from data on other Indians in the writer’s possession, it seems very 
probable that the characteristic shown by the Munsee in this regard is 
common to Indians in general. As may be seen by reference to the 
figures in the following table, the low shaft index in the Munsee 
is due entirely to smaller breadth; the Munsee femur is relatively 
narrower than that of both whites and negroes. 
