NO. 12 JAW OF PILTDOWN MAN — MILLER 13 



than in females. Comparison of the Piltdown tooth with those of 

 males of all three genera and of females of Gorilla and Pongo show 

 numerous and striking discrepancies which need not be detailed here. 

 On comparison with the left upper canine of adult female Pan, how- 

 ever, no such discrepancies are found. The cast of the tooth almost 

 fits the left alveolus of No. 174700, an adult female chimpanzee from 

 French Congo. Its greater size and straighter, more compressed 

 root prevent its taking a wholly natural position in the socket; but 

 when as nearly as possible in place it is in all important respects 

 symmetrical with the canine of the right side and with the cheek- 

 teeth of the left series. The only characters by which I am able to 

 distinguish it from the corresponding tooth of adult female recent 

 chimpanzees are the slightly greater size, the less backward-bent 

 extremity of root, and the greater area and deeper concavity of the 

 worn region on postero-internal aspect of crown. The distinction of 

 root from crown is not so well marked as in recent teeth, but this cir- 

 cumstance is probably due to the incomplete condition of the enamel 

 which Dr. Woodward (Dawson and Woodward, 1914, p. 87) has 

 described. 



Incompatibility of the Piltdown Jaw and Skull 



Discussion of the relationships of the man represented by the Pilt- 

 down braincase to the various living and extinct species of Homo 

 does not come within the scope of this paper. Certain characters of 

 the skull-fragments are, however, of special importance in connec- 

 tion with the supposed association of the jaw with those remains. 



The occipital bone has been said to approach " a lower [than typ- 

 ically human] grade .... in the attachment for the neck " (Dawson 

 and Woodward, 1913, p. 132). On comparing it with a few dozen 

 recent human skulls taken at random from the series in the National 

 Museum I find that its peculiarities of form are so exactly matched 

 that none can be regarded as of more than individual importance. 

 The " relatively large extent and flatness of its smooth upper 

 squamous portion " (1. c. p. 128) is completely within the range of 

 variation in modern species of Homo. This feature, connected as it 

 is with the upright position of the body, and the consequent shrinking 

 of the area for attachment of the neck-muscles, is one of the family 

 characters of the Hominida. In the Pongidcz a very small smooth 

 area 1 is present in the young above the region of muscle-attachment, 

 but in the adult this area is always encroached on" and often obliterated 



1 More noticeable in Gorilla and Pan than in Pongo. 



2 More rapidly and completely in Gorilla and Pongo than in Pan. 



