8 



PKOr. G. ELLIOT SMITH OX A 



fvol. 



t 



the fact that the skull from which it was obtained conformed to 

 the modern type (by some authorities regarded as the species 

 Somo sapiens, as distinct from S. neanderthcde)isis). 



The small fragment of endocranial cast now under consideration 

 presents at its medial border about 4-5 centimetres of the broad 

 deep median furrow, corresponding to the endocranial sagittal crest 

 of the frontal bone ; and below, part of the orbital margin, although 

 not sufficient to display the form and extent of 'the orbital rosti'um. 

 There are no distinct indications of the situations of an}' of the 

 <3erebral sulci, although there is a definite flattening of the sm-face 

 parallel to, and about 1 centimetre above, the orbital margin. 



Passing upwards from the 



Ym. 2.— The frontal pole of cui ^^^^"^^^ of this flattening is 



endocranial cast of Eoan- ^n even more definite de- 



thropns viewed from the pi'ession (fig. 2, h) proceedmg 



fj.Qjj^f ' sagittallv at a distance of about 



2 centimetres from the median 

 ,„.-,-....,, plane. The sui'face between 



this depression and the median 

 groove is raised up into a pro- 

 minent hillock {a «), the exact 

 analogy for which I have been 

 unable to find in an}^ human 

 brain or cranial cast. It pre- 

 sents a much closer analogy to 

 the condition found in the casts 

 of skulls of the Xeanderthal 

 series (more especially the Grib- 

 raltar, Xeanderthal, and La 

 Quina casts) than in those of 

 any more recent varieties of 

 man. But it suggests also the 

 paramedian ridge formed by 

 the anterior j^art of the superior 

 frontal convolution in the an- 

 thropoid apes, the prominence 

 of which is due in part to the 

 falling away of the ill-deve- 

 loped lateral part of the pre- 

 frontal area. 



If these tentative suggestions are justified, this small fi*agment 

 affords further corroboration of the opinion that I expressed vdth. 

 reference to the endocranial cast of the Piltdown skull : namely, 

 that it presents features which are more distinctly 

 primitive and ape-like than those of any other member 

 of the human family at present available for exami- 

 nation. 



V 



a = paramedian eminence ; h = de- 

 pressed area at the lateral border 

 of the eminence ; c = part of the 

 fronto- orbital margin.] 



