i 



Browne — Ethnography of Inishhofin and Inishshark. 335 



The specimens, about twenty in number, were piled in a heap in a 

 small recess near the east window, and were all in a very bad state of 

 preservation, being much weathered from long exposure, in addition, 

 to which they had suffered such extensive mutilations that only eleven, 

 all calvaria, were in a suitable condition to allow of measurement; 

 the others were merely shattered fragments of the cranial bones, 

 presenting no feature of interest except their thinness. 



The following description of those examined is extracted from the 

 entries made in my note -book at the time. 



The specimens examined are very uniform in their characters, which 

 are, in the main, as follows : — 



Norma verticalis. — The cranial outline is a short but very even 

 oval, sometimes showing an approach to the quadrate in form, as the 

 frontal region is flattened, and the frontal and parietal eminences are 

 well-marked. 



Norma lateralis. — The profile rises almost perpendicularly to the 

 culmination of the frontal eminences, as the glabella and superciliary 

 ridges project very slightly, and the frontal sinuses are not large. 

 The upper part of the curve sweeps evenly backwards, and dips down 

 rather suddenly below the lambda, in some cases projecting agaia below. 



Norma facialis. — The forehead is seen to be broad, but not of any 

 great height, and the superior borders of the orbits are nearly level or 

 but slightly curved. 



The muscular markings, as the inion superior curved line, and 

 mastoids, are in four cases (Nos, 1, 4, 6, and 11) strong; in all the 

 others they are very slight. 



The sutures are rather complex, and by the very considerable 

 amount of obliteration they have undergone, would seem to have 

 belonged to persons of rather advanced age. 



Pterion. — In every instance this is of the H type, but in two cases 

 it contains small epactals. 



Indices. — The crania are, without exception, mesaticcphalic, having 

 a mean cephalic index of 77, with extremes of 75"5 and 79'2, The 

 vertical index can only be obtained in three cases, owing to the 

 extremely shattered state of the specimens. All are tapeino-cephalic, 

 the figures being 70-5, 75-3, and 71'9. The auriculo-vertical height 

 is obtainable only on the same crania as the basi-bregmatic. 



Curves. — The longitudinal curves, measurable in five instances, in 

 three of which the frontal arc exceeded the parietal, and, in all, it is 

 greater than the occipital. The parietal arc exceeds the occipital in 

 four cases, and is less than it in one. 



