412 TWO REMARKABLE SKULLS 



of 98.6 whilst No. 2 was shown to be pronouncedly Melan- 

 esian. 



The Stephano-zygomatic Index. — The stephano-zygomatic 

 index was found to present some features of striking interest. 

 In No.l skull it was 73.17 and in No. 2, 71.9. Both were 

 evident^ at the lowest level for this index in man and were 

 thus markedly phaenozygous, No. 2, as usual, representing 

 the lower type. Compare these results with the index 

 of 90.7 found in the adult European male or the 94.6 of the 

 European female.'-'^' It is of interest to note that this index 

 may rise as high as 116 in the infant skull of white races, 

 which is thus remarkably cryptozygous. In the gorilla 

 this index goes down to zero owing to the meeting of the 

 temporal lines to form the prominent median crest along the 

 line of the sagittal suture. 



■ The Orbital Index. — There has been much cUscussion among 

 anthropologists regarding the value and significance of the 

 orbital index, many having seriously challenged its general 

 utility as an indication of race. It certainly shows a wide 

 range of variation not only throughout the hominidse, but 

 also in persons belonging to the same race. This fact is 

 well exemplified in these two skulls, for No. 2 which in the 

 case of the previously recorded indices has consistently shown 

 an inferior degree, is in a slightl}' elevated position to No. 1 

 in regard to the orbital index, the figures being respectively 

 81.7 and 80.7. They both, however, exhibit a definitely 

 low type, being markedly microsemic, though they do not 

 reach the low ebb indicated by 75,^^^^ as found in certain 

 aboriginal Tasmanian skulls. In Polynesians, on the other 

 hand, as in all mongoloid races, this index is remarkably 

 high, being usually above 89^^^^ They are therefore classed 

 as megasemic. However variable the orbital index may be, 

 it certainly indicates to us that the vertical dimensions of 

 the orbital aperture are greatest in the mongoloid races and 

 least in the aboriginal Australians and Melanesians,^^''^ with 



