580 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 



keel gives a fictitious height to the contour of the forehead when the 

 cranium is viewed laterally. 



Norma frontalis. — The forehead is narrower in No. 1, and the 

 frontal eminences are closer together; the great size of the supra- 

 ciliary ridges, and the prominence of the frontal eminences in both, 

 result in a characteristic large depressed ophryon. Although the 

 lower parts of the sides of the cranium in 0, B. are flat, the regions 

 just below the temporal crest are slightly swollen. In No, 1 the 

 sides are flatter and parallel up to the crest. The sagittal keel is also 

 much more prominent in 0. B. than in No. 1. 



The norma verticalis of these two crania is shown in PI. XII., 

 figs. 7, 8 ; beside them I have placed a cast of another skull, which is 

 also in the Grattan Collection, No. 5. It is described as " Yery 

 ancient Irish, from a Eailway-cutting." I have not been able to find 

 any further information respecting it. I carefully measTired the cast, 

 and have drawn up the following indices, which must be regarded as 

 approximate only. The maximum length was 196, and I had to 

 estimate the breadth, which I put down as 150 ; this makes the index 

 as 76. Collignon argues that a length of over 190 in the living head 

 is characteristic of dolichocephaly, and so we may describe this skull 

 as dolichocephalic; it is also tapeinocephalic (length-height 71, breadth- 

 height 93'3), orthognathic (96), leptoprosopic, Virchow (82), leptorhine 

 (44), and microseme (79). It is obvious that both the contour of the 

 norma verticalis and the indices prove this cranium to belong to the 

 same race as the Knockmaraidhe skull No, 1, whatever its age may 

 happen to be. 



From the foregoing descriptions and comparisons there is no doubt 

 that these crania belong to the same people or race ; and, from their 

 similarity to one another and to other ancient skulls which I have 

 studied, they may be regarded as very typical examples of that race 

 as it occurred in Ireland. 



When we travel further afield we find that these crania agree 

 essentially with the Long Barrow race of Ancient Britain and with 

 the Neolithic Dolichocephals of Western and South-Western Europe. 

 The remains found in certain French caves jiresent this type in its 

 purity; as, for example, Les Baumes-Chaudes in the commune of 

 Saint Georges de Levejac, and L'Homme Mort in the commune of 

 Saint Pierre de Tripies, both in Lozere, South Prance. Broca 

 described thirty-five crania from the former cave, having length- 

 breadth indices ranging from 64-3 to 76-1, with a mean index of 72. 

 He also studied nineteen crania from the latter cave ; of these seven- 



