12 A CRANIOMETRIC STUDY 



Western Europe generally is mesaticephalic. Before leaving 

 the discussion of the cephalic index, it is however, just as well 

 to repeat a note of warning I have given in previous papers, 

 and it is this, that the same race may show examples of the 

 extrcir.e limits of variation of this index. For example Tur- 

 ner C) found brachycephaly in 35 out of 174 Scottish skulls 

 Therefore though one found a single Micmac skull with a 

 marked degree of brachycephaly, one could not make the 

 assertion that the whole tribe was brachycephalic. Hence my 

 appeal for further material in order to ascertain the racial 

 range of variation of this index. It may be mentioned here 

 that the cephalic index and the configuration of this Micmac 

 cranium closely correspond to those of the "Bui-lington County 

 skull" described by Hrdlicka.^"'^ 



The Index of Cranial Height. — This was found to be 73.09, 

 thus placing the skull in the metriocephalic class. This figure 

 is in striking contrast to 65.5 and 68.1 which were the indices 

 of cranial height recently recorded by the writer in two Melan- 

 seian skulls, ^'^ thus locating these -skulls at the lowest limit 

 of the tapeinocephalic class. It may be noted in passing that 

 the index of cranial height for the British type of skull is 

 71, ( ') which locates it at the upper end of the tapeinocephalic 

 group. 



The Breadth-Height Index. — This cranial index has been very 

 little exploited, but I am glad to find that an authority like 

 Turner (") advocated its use very strongly. In this Micmac 

 skull the index proved to be 90.5, this rendering it platycha- 

 maecephalic. This latter title was suggested by Turner(*), 

 who pointed out that in brachycephalic skulls the breadth 

 was usually greater than the height, and that certainly proved 

 to be the condition in this instance. The height according 

 to the index was of course 90.5% of the breadth. 



The iVa.sa/ Index. — The nasal bones and the septum were 

 markedly deflected to the right, evidently due to some acci- 



