342 A NATUEALJST'S WANDERINGS 



depends essentially on the length of the temporal region, and is the 

 permanent retention of a childlike character dolichocephally ; being due, 

 he has shown, to a relative development of bones which varies with age. 

 ■It is essentially occipital in the infant, temporal in the child, and frontal 

 in the adult man. 



The form of the foramen magnum varies considerably, being in some 

 elongated antero-posteriorly, in others almost circular. 



Gnathic Index.— On. an average the male skulls are mesognathous 

 (having an index between 98 and 103); the brachycephalic females 

 belong to the same group. Considerable variety is exhibited individually 

 by the male skulls, one being prognathous and another orthognathous ; 

 the same variability is not exhibited by the females, all of them being 

 mesognathous. The dolichocephalic female is prognathous. 



Malar Height. — The development of the malar bones is usually some- 

 what greater in the brachycephalic skulls than in Europeans, but consi- 

 derable individual variety is observable which confirms the observations of 

 Mr. Forbes on living natives. The malars are small in the dolichocephalic 

 female. The depression on the malar process of the maxilla or maxillo- 

 malar notch, observed by Professor -Flower to be present in the Fijians, 

 may here be seen in the skulls where the malars are most strongly 

 developed. 



Tlie Orbits. — The form of the orbits varies considerably, some being 

 wider in proportion to the height than others; but the averages show 

 both sexes to be mesoseme (index from 83 to 89). 



The Nasal Index. — The form of the nasal aperture presents a certain 

 degree of variation, the index varying from 48-1 to 55'8 in the brachy- 

 cephalic males, and in the females of that class from 49 to 60'5, the averages 

 of the former being 52 and of the latter 55'3. The average index of the 

 males places them at the platyrhine end of the mesorhine group (between 

 48 and 53), while the females are just within the platyrhine class (above 

 53). Two males and three females are mesorhine, and two males and 

 two females are platyrhine. The dolichocephalic skull is mesorhine. 



The Facial angle formed by the meeting of the alveolar point of the 

 ophryo-alveolar face-line and the auriculo-alveolar base line averages 70° 

 in the males, and nearly 08° in the females. As differences of opinion 

 may exist as to the value of the angle taken in this way I have added the 

 nasi-alveolar length as well as the basi-nasal and basi-alveolar measure- 

 ments. With these three measurements the relation of the alveolar point 

 to the cranio-facial axis of Huxley, or basi-nasal line upon which the 

 angle of gnathism depends, can easily be calculated, and the facial angle 

 thus formed aptly compared with the gnathic index. A further reason for 

 the nasi-alveolar length finding a place in the tabic is that some anato- 

 mists, without good reason, consider it to be preferable to the ophryo- 

 alveolar length as the measurement of facial height, owing to its being 

 more definite than the latter. 



Regional characters of the cranial portion. — The glabella is feebly 

 developed in both sexes, being represented by Nos. O'l of Broca's des- 

 criptive outlines, except in one of the females in whom it equals No. ,2. 

 The superciliary ridges are likewise feebly marked, the rebeing usually 

 only a slight boss projecting obliquely upwards and outwards from the 

 glabella, but not extending any distance over the orbits. The forehead- 

 recedes slightly, but the degree of recession varies somewhat, being more 

 marked in two brachycephalic females than in any of the others ; while 

 in the dolichocephalic females it is the most perpendicular. Tubera are 

 well marked on the parietal bones of the young male skull, and are 

 associated with a narrow base, as is seen by the bi-auricular breadth 



