28 A CRANIOMETRIC STUDY 



very considerable. It may be mentioned that this angle ap- 

 proximates to 180 in the anthropoid ape, and gradually di- 

 minishes in size as one ascends the evolutionary' scale. (Fig. 

 8). 



The Forami no- Basal Ajigle. — This angular measurement 

 consistently followed the previous two, and was found to be 

 146° which was exactly the same as in the lowly evolved 

 aboriginal Australian (") and the Melanesian. (^) This angle 

 gradually increases in size as one ascends the evolutionary 

 stem and measures 149° in the European cranium (") These 

 three angular measurements clearly place this Micmac skull 

 at a considerable distance from the European type of skull, 

 and indeed, in a rather unfavourable inter-racial position; 

 and I am therefore all the more eager to secure an early op- 

 portunity of ascertaining their condition in a whole series of 

 North American Indian skulls. (Fig. 9). 



Special Study of the Facial Skeleton. 



The author made a special study of the facial portion of the 

 skull in the following way. Horizontal lines were drawn 

 through the nasion, the lower borders of the orbits, the akan- 

 thion, and the prosthion respectively. These divided the 

 face into upper, middle and lower horizontal areas. On study- 

 ing the relative proportions of these it was observed that the 

 middle and lower areas were approximately equal in depth 

 while the uppermost was distinctly more extensive in its 

 vertical dimensions than the lower two. The points through 

 which these lines are drawn are, with the exception of the 

 lower orbital margins, recognized as fairly constant in posi- 

 tion, though in the case of this skull the position of the pros- 

 thion could be only approximately determined owing to slight 

 deficiency of the alveoli of the incisor teeth. Still it was con- 

 sidered possible that this method of studying the norma 

 frontalis of the skull might be utilized as an additional cri- 

 terion for determining the race of any given skull. I have so 



