I'I{()M THE NKW HEBRIDES. CAMERON. 121 



orang-utan and gorilla skulls which were 145° and 125° 

 rospcctivoly. It is quite obvious, then, that as regards 

 prognathism, these two New Hobridean skulls are dofinitoly 

 situated in a position intermediate between the anthroijoid 

 skull and that of modern white races. 



The Spheno-ethmoidal Angle. — This is another useful 

 angular cranial measurement, the condition of which in 

 these two skulls is well worth recording. It, like the spheno- 

 maxiUary angle, was apparently first employed by Huxley, ^'*^^ 

 and is therefore usually associated with his name. It really 

 yields quite instructive results, for it shows us how much 

 the cranio-facial axis has become bent upon itself during 

 the evolution of the skull. For example, if one studies a 

 mesial section of the skull of an anthropoid ape, like the orang- 

 utan, it will be noticed that the cribriform plate of the 

 ■ethmoid, the body of the sphenoid and basilar portion of 

 the occipital bone are practically in the same straight line, 

 thus placing the spheno-ethmoidal angle somewhere in the 

 vicinity of 180° in the apes. As a matter of fact it may be 

 a little above or below this figure. On examining a mesial 

 section of the modern human skull it will be noticed that a 

 profound alteration has taken place, for while the cribriform 

 plate of the ethmoid has remained practically horizontal, 

 the sphenoid and occipital bones have been very definitely 

 forced downwards, thus reducing the size of the angle. It 

 will therefore be recognised that the higher the type of 

 skull, the smaller is the size of this angle. The spheno- 

 ethmoidal angle was found to be the same in both of these 

 New Hebridean skulls, namely 151°, which closely approxi- 

 mates to the figure of 153°, found by Duckworth^^"^ in the 

 case of two aboriginal Australian skulls. The same observer^^^^ 

 gives 138° as the average result in two European skulls, 

 so that evidently there is a substantial difference between 

 the size of the angle in the highest and lowest races of modern 

 mankind. 



