TRANSACTIONS OF WAGNER 

 40 



HAWAIIAN SKULLS 



twenty-eight per cent, of the coast on the posterior border of the foramen 

 magnum, while it rests on the occipital condyles in thirty-nine per cent, of the 

 cave as against twenty-seven per cent, of the coast, thus showing a marked 

 difference in the two groups, though it is difficult to assign reasons for it. It 

 can be stated in definite terms that the lower the type of the Hawaiian skull 

 the more convex and more depressed becomes the occipital bone in the posi- 

 tion answering to the position of the cerebellar hemispheres. 



The marginal process of the malar bone has been accepted to be a char- 

 acter of sex. I took observation on the presence or absence of the process 

 to ascertain if it might not also be a character of grade. The contrast of the 

 presence of the process of fifty-six per cent, in the cave series as opposed to 

 sixty-two per cent, in the coast would indicate that it is disposed to be such a 

 character. 



The sphenomaxillary fissure when admitting the malar bone into its com- 

 position expresses the fact that the bone is disposed to be large and the 

 temporal fossa at the region of the frontal bone deep. If we accept this 

 method of reasoning, we are not surprised to find that the malar bone enters 

 into the fissure in seventy-two per cent, of the cave series, while it is present 

 but in sixty-five per cent, of the coast. The contrast is striking even if the 

 above attempt at explanation be not accepted. Froment {see Henle's Anat- 

 omic) notes three hundred and seventy-five skulls in which in one hundred 

 and five times the malar bone entered the fissure on both sides and eighty-five 

 times on one side. 



The suhtre trace on the inner side of the malar bone is present in twenty- 

 eight per cent., only, of the cave series, while in forty-seven per cent, of the 

 coast. 



It will be convenient to present some of the foregoing variations in 

 columns, as follows : 



Cave. Coast. 



Hard Palate. 



Hyperbolic . . .24, 89 per cent. 22, 85 per cent. 



Parabolic . . .1, 4 per cent. 4, 15 percent. 



U-shaped . . . 2, 7 per cent. o 



Foramen Lacerum Medium. 



Open . . . . 25, 83 per cent. 27, 87 per cent. 



Closed . . . .1, 3 per cent. o 



Nearly closed . . . 4, 13 per cent. 4, 13 per cent. 



The opening was small in two examples. 



