40o Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 



The zygomatic arches displayed some points of interest. Their architecture 

 was more massive when compared with the average European male or female 

 type. They were, moreover, more markedly curved outwards. The writer was, 

 however, much impressed by the relatively feeble degree of development of the 

 tubercle at the root of the zygoma for the attachment of the external lateral 

 ligament of the lower jaw. This tubercle was ^o poorly developed in all thirty 

 skulls that were available for its study, that the writer was inclined to believe 

 it to constitute a definite racial character, which would certainly indicate a 

 comparatively feeble degree of development of the external lateral ligament of 

 the lower jaw. The latter band is a strongly pronounced structure in the Anglo- 

 Saxon race, where it is associated with a correspondingly prominent tubercle. 

 The zygomatic arch, owing to its marked projection, presented an unusually 

 extensive lower border and inner surface for the origin of the powerful masseter 

 muscle. The buttress of bone projecting from the superior maxilla for the support 

 of the anterior end of the zygoma was very prominently displayed, no doubt to 

 resist the strong downward pull of the masseter muscle upon the zygomatic 

 arch during mastication (see Plate 2). 



The glenoid fossse were remarkably shallow, and were thus in marked con- 

 trast to the depth found in the average type of Anglo-Saxon skull. This condition 

 has been already emphasized by Knowles.(") This observer rightly pointfiid out 

 that this shallowness was due to the free lateral movements of the molar groups 

 of teeth in masticating tough uncooked food. Indeed, it is probable that the 

 shallowness of the glenoid fossse and the almost total abolition of the tubercle at 

 the root of the zygoma, recorded in the preceding paragraph, may be concomi- 

 tant , phenomena, for it is evident that the capsule of the temporo-mandibular 

 joint of the Eskimo skull would have to be very lax to admit of his vigorous 

 trituration movements. In the Anglo-Saxon race, on the other hand, we meet 

 with a totally different type of mastication (associated with well-cooked food 

 and social convention) which has resulted in a certain degree of limitation in 

 the movements of the mandibular condyles, due to strongly developed external 

 lateral ligaments and a deep glenoid fossa. 



The lambdoidal and the posterior halves of the sagittal sutures exhibited 

 as a rule a considerable degree of complexity and tortuosity. Wormian bones of 

 an irregular type were frequent along the line of the lambdoidal suture, including 

 two large triangular ones, symmetrical in shape and arrangement, in the case 

 of cranium XIV F-24. These evidently represented portions of the inter-parietal 

 bone (see Plate 8). 



The crania exhibited no grooves for the supra-orbital vessels and nerves, 

 which according to the researches of Dixon,(') are rather rare in the Eskimo 

 skull. Strangely enough, an Eskimo cranium in the possession of the writer, 

 that came from Southampton island, Hudson bay, exhibits these grooves in 

 the most marked degree. There were no metopic sutures and no fronto-squamous 

 articulations. 



The upper portions of the occipital bones exhibited a pronounced backward 

 bulging so that the most posterior points of the crania were about midway 

 between the lambda and the inion. There was nothing special to record regard- 

 ing the thickness of the cranial wall. 



The frontal, ethmoidal and sphenoidal sinuses were well developed, while 

 the capacity of the maxillary antrum was certainly greater than in the European 

 type of skull. 



The foramina for emissary veins exhibited the usual vagaries of position 

 and occurrence, as in the European skull. 



The facial portions of the crania exhibited the broad flattened appearance 

 so characteristic of the Eskimo, with prominently developed malar bones. 

 It is of interest to compare the latter with those of the European type of skull, 

 in which they are directed for the most part outwards. In these Eskimo crania^ 



