342 Records of thf. S.A. Muskum 



GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 



As ;i wlick-, tlic skulls of the .\(irtliA\'c^l i'acific Islanders, wlm praclisc 

 llif simiik- annular method (if bead distorlion. present the followin.sj general 

 characteristics. 



The bones of the skull are thick : the muscular ridges well-marked ; the 

 teeth sound and good ; the alveolar margins well-de\eliij>ed. 



.•\ strongh-marked annular constriction is seen, prculuced by liandaging in 

 infancy, and resulting in the i)rorluctinn of certain abnormal depressions and 

 ele\atiiins. These are obvious in can\' norma, but are best seen in lateral and 

 \ertical projections. 



In iioiiiia lateralis one notes moderate subnasal prognathism. The nasal 

 billies are fairly long and saddle-shaped, the rudt nf the nose deei)ly set; the 

 frontal bone receding at an acute angle. 



.\ broad, shallow depression extends from the midpoint of the frontal 

 bone iibli(|uely downwards and backwards tn the occiput, grooving in its passage 

 the frontal, parietal, and occipital bimes. It ends anteriorl)- and posteriorly b)- 

 becoming continuous with its fellow of the opposite side. A second groove 

 begins posterior to the bregma, and joins the former groove at an acute angle 

 somewhere along its backward course. 



The glabella and the superciliary ridges may or may not be included within 

 the area of compression, and their prominence depends upon the extent of their 

 exclusion. 



The frontal eminences disapjiear; the median outline of the bone pursues an 

 almost straight, ilattened, slowly ascending, course upward to the region of the 

 bregma, which is occupied by a distinct swelling. This in turn is succeeded by 

 the depression at the point of origin of the second groove mentioned above, and 

 behind this again lies the main mass of the receding skull. 



Tlie ascent reaches a maximum in the region of the obelion, from which 

 ])iiint, or its neighbourhood, the outline bends suddenly downwards and ulti- 

 mately forwards along the course of the obli((uely flattened occipital bone. 



The medial portions of the coronal and lanibdoid sutures are disjilaced 

 backwards, and doubtless the fissure of Rol.andn, the motor and sensory areas, 

 etc., are correspondingly inclined posteriorly. 



At the regions occupied in the new-born infant by the sphenoidal and 

 mastoidal fonticuli there are, as a rule, ossa siitaraniiii. as evidences of ossilic 

 activity. Of these the ossa epiptcrica arc the more constant, being, it is ven- 

 tm-ed to state, a universal feature of much-distorted skulls. .\ reference to tlie 



