Holtby — Human Bones from an Ancient Burial Ground in Dublin. 39 



only slightly depressed, and the posterior being raised and rough, semicircular 

 in shape, with everted edge. 



The margin of the articular surface extended on to the upper and anterior 

 aspect of the neck, as described by Charles in the squatting Punjabi. He 

 found this condition constantly present in these people, and ascribed it to 

 pressure against the acetabular margin ; it is, I believe, more probably 

 produced by the cotyloid ligament. Frequently a somewhat similar condition 

 is found in recent Irish specimens ; but if these be carefully examined, it will 

 be seen that the smooth extension is placed at a slightly lower level on the 

 neck, and that its margin is rough and generally raised. I have seen the 

 retinacular fibres running to this margin in fresh specimens, and believe the 

 impression to be caused by contact with the ilio-femoral ligament such as 

 would arise from prolonged standing. 



Following Dwight's classification, we must regard this bone, from the 

 diameter of the head, as belonging to a female subject. 



Neck. — Each of the femora in which the neck was preserved showed, just 

 internal to the femoral tubercle, a long, narrow, smooth-grooved area, apparently 

 produced by close contact with a strongly developed iliacus. 1 There was no 

 marked groove for the obturator externus. The neck was short, and not, as 

 in the Punjabi, elongated. The tuberculum colli inferior was only marked in 

 one of three cases. 2 



Shaft. — A trochanter tertius was found in six cases, whilst another specimen 

 showed an indication of its presence, and the remaining bone possessed a 

 more prominent gluteal ridge than usual. The latter two specimens do not 

 show the same degree of platymeria as the others. The development of a 

 third trochanter is frequently associated with flattening of the upper end of 

 the bone. Although it was difficult to determine the sex, as the bones were 

 so fragmentary, yet the trochanter was seen in specimens which various 

 considerations would lead us to assign to both sexes. 3 The third trochanter 

 undoubtedly appears to be more common in ancient than in modern femora, 

 though Houze 4 described it in the femora of inhabitants of Brussels in 1883, as 

 well as in Neolithic Belgians, and Torok, 5 three years later, refers to it as present 

 in modern specimens of both sexes, as well as in Hungarians of the Bronze 

 Age. Dixon described the occurrence of a separate epiphysis for it in recent 

 specimens, and sometimes a centre appears for the whole gluteal ridge, and is 



1 Walmesly in a communication to the Anatomical Society of Great Britain, June, 1914, 

 states that this groove is due to the presence of circular fibres in the capsule at this point. 



2 Charles, Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, 1894. 



3 Dwight, Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, vol. sxiv, 1890. 



4 Houze", Brussels, 1883. 



5 Torok, Anatomischer Anzieger, 1886. 



