August 8, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



207 



both directly and through an obscure my- 

 thology. On the death of an adult his 

 small properties are collected for distribu- 

 tion among non-relatives, while the body is 

 placed on a rude bier and fuel is gathered 

 for cremating it. Especially if the dece- 

 dent is a householder, intelligence of his 

 death spreads rapidly and fellow tribesmen 

 of other clans, as well as Indians of other 

 tribes, and even Mexicans and Americans, 

 gather and help themselves to such property 

 as weapons, fishing-tackle, stored grain and 

 other food supplies, fowls, horses, saddles 

 and bridles, and other chattels. Meantime 

 the pyre is being arranged alongside the 

 house, and any remnants of the chattels (or 

 all, in case claimants have not appeared) 

 are placed on and about it; and about the 

 end of the second day this is fired. The 

 light-framed house soon catches from the 

 pyre and is consumed with it, while any 

 neighboring houses belonging to the family 

 or clan also take fire, either naturally or by 

 the help of the mourners, so that the entire 

 homestead is destroyed. The surviving 

 members of the family abandon the site for- 

 ever; and it is shunned for years by other 

 families of the tribe. 



This paper was discussed by George A. 

 Dorsey, Walter Hough and J. D. McGuire. 



The Section adjourned to Bellefield 

 School for the following two papers, in 

 order to avail itself of lantern facilities. 



A Collection of Crania from Gazelle Penin- 

 sula, New Pomerania: George Gkant 

 MacCurdy. 



This is a comparative study of twenty- 

 four crania belonging to individuals from 

 the tribes of Gazelle Peninsula, Xew 

 Pomerania. They were procured in 189J:, 

 through Mr. Frederick Mueller, of Amster- 

 dam, by Dr. John S. Billings, then in 

 charge of the U. S. Army Medical Museum. 

 Their provenience is attested by Br. J. D. 



E. Schmeltz, Director of the National Mu- 

 seuui of Ethnography, Leyden. 



The collection is owned by the Free Mu- 

 seum of Science and Art, University of 

 Pennsylvania, the director, Mr. Stewart 

 Culin, kindly forwarding it to Yale Univer- 

 sity Museum for purposes of study. 



The skulls are small and all dolichoce- 

 phalic. The minimum and maximum fron- 

 tal diameters are small, averaging, respec- 

 tively, 20.3 mm. and 25.7 mm. less than for 

 English crania. The height averages great- 

 er than the greatest breadth, a character 

 called hypsistencephaly ; the crania are 

 prognathous, platyrhine, platyopic, phffin- 

 ozygous and megadont. Glabella and 

 superciliary arches are prominent. Aper- 

 tura pyriformis is simian in character. 

 Fossffi caninffi are pronounced. The teeth 

 are well preserved and not crowded. The 

 wisdom teeth are lacking in none. There is 

 a tendencj^ toward a division of the root 

 in the first upper premolars. The alveolar 

 arch of the upper jaw projects considerably 

 beyond the third molars (in one case as 

 much as 12 mm.). The percentage of first 

 lower premolars with anterior roots is high ; 

 the spina mentalis is practically wanting, 

 and the angle of symphysis is large. The 

 paper was illustrated by lantern pictures. 



Burials of Adena Mound: William C. 



Mills. 



This paper discussed the difl'erence be- 

 tween the various burials of the Adena 

 Mound, which was in Ross Co., Ohio. It 

 was illustrated by lantern pictures. 



Adena mound was cone-shaped, 26 feet 

 in height, Avith a circumference of 445 feet. 

 The outer surface of the mound was cover- 

 ed with a leaf-mold from three to seven 

 inches thick. As work progressed upon the 

 mound, it was discovered that it had been 

 built at two different periods; the first 

 period is represented by the original mound, 

 which was twenty feet high, with a base 



