904 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1121 



Tilantonge and Aohiutla, little is known of tlie 

 many other ruins found in the Mixtee country. 

 Among these are the ruins of Tueu-Tiehiyo. Even 

 here little is now left of what at one time must 

 have been an important center, and the author puts 

 on record some views of the structures before the 

 walls shall all have crumbled and nothing but 

 mounds remain. Remarks were made on the coun- 

 try where the ruins are to be seen, followed by a 

 description of the buildings and mounds still 

 standing. Information from old natives was 

 given, as well as some measurements of the build- 

 ings, and what has been found in the course of the 

 limited excavations that have been made. 



A Study of Family Names in CJiile: Luis Thatee 



Ojbda. 



The present study is composed of four chapters. 

 The first treats of the history of surnames, study- 

 ing their evolution and their origin from the time 

 when they have merely the form of personal names 

 through to their transformation into generic fam- 

 ily names. 



The second chapter consists of the etymological 

 classification of family names. From this point 

 of view the author divides the surnames of Chile 

 into seven groups, as follows: Individual, geo- 

 graphic, historic, abstract, combined, doubtful and 

 foreign. The author notes that these groups may 

 be divided and subdivided into related classes. 



In the third chapter the author gives the morpho- 

 logical classification of surnames in three groups, 

 as follows: Perfect names, comprising all the 

 Spanish surnames whose orthography is in con- 

 formity with that indicated by the Eoyal Museum ; 

 imperfect names, including Spanish surnames 

 which have suffered alterations; and foreign 

 names which embrace all the surnames belonging 

 to other languages. 



In the fourth chapter an ethnological classifica- 

 tion of surnames is made, arranged by countries in 

 which the names have originated. 



In the fifth chapter, after certain considera- 

 tions, the author arrives at the conclusion that sur- 

 names may be an ef&cient aid in determining the 

 ethnic compositions of countries. The study made 

 of 167,400 names has served as the basis for a 

 calculation of the proportion of the different races 

 which inhabit Chile. 

 On the Glenoid Fossa of the Eskimo : V. Giuffrida- 



EUGGERI. 



In a recent bulletin of the Canadian Department 

 of Mines, Knowles directs attention to the peculiar 



form of the glenoid fossa and articular eminence 

 in Eskimo skulls. The fossa is shallow, while the 

 articular eminence is flattened and extended in a 

 forward direction. Having read this notice in Na- 

 ture, June 17, 1915, I immediately wrote to the 

 author, asking for the extract, but up to the pres- 

 ent I have received no answer. I think that surely 

 only a small percentage of Eskimo skulls really 

 present such an anomaly, for were it a common 

 conformation it would hardly have escaped notice; 

 but anthropologists who have previously studied 

 collections of Eskimo skulls have never noted the 

 observance of such a peculiarity. On the other 

 hand, this anomaly is not peculiar to the Eskimo, 

 as I remarked on its recurrence, seventeen years 

 ago, in Italian skulls. The publication of my ar- 

 ticle led to further extensive research in the Anthro- 

 pological Museum of Florence and a detailed ar- 

 ticle was published on the subject by E. Polli in 

 1899. 



Mongoloid Signs in Some Ethnic Types of the 



Andine Plateau: Arthur Posnanskt. 



A study of certain somatic signs observed by 

 the author in some of the ethnic types of the An- 

 dine Plateau, and believed by him to be charac- 

 teristically Mongolian. 



The signs observed are: (1) The Mongolian 

 fold (pliegue mongolico) in the countenance of 

 some Indians; (2) the os japonicum in certain 

 crania; and (3) the Mongolian spot {mancha mon- 

 golica) . 



The author says that it is impossible to deter- 

 mine the percentage of the Indians of the plateau 

 having the Mongolian fold, since there are groups 

 who do not possess it at all, while others show it 

 without exception. Certain tribes of the Chingu 

 Eiver had it in a not very marked degree; but the 

 author has observed it in a more pronounced form 

 in the Paumari and Ipurina Indians on the river 

 Pirtis and on the lower Acre (Brazil). The fold 

 develops as the individual develops, disappearing 

 completely in old age, a phenomenon observed in 

 the Mongolian race also. This characterictic fold 

 is found among the Eskimos, and the Botacudos 

 of Brazil. The author has examined in Europe a 

 thousand crania of Mongolians and an equal num- 

 ber from the pre-Columbian mounds of the Andine 

 Plateau; and in both he found a pronounced 

 sulcus in the maxillar or the region of the procesus 

 frontalis, and in the daeryon (lachrymal region), 

 situated a little above the piriformis opening. As 

 this sulcus does not appear in anatomical nomen- 



