506 FOSSIL HUMAN REMAINS FROM KENI. [Aug. 1 89 5. 



result of close contact with the rootlets of growing plants. When 

 first exhumed, the bones were exceedingly soft and fragile, and, in 

 spite of the care with which they were handled, were all much 

 broken in the process of extraction from the matrix ; it was necessary, 

 therefore, to treat them with gelatine and allow them to dry and 

 harden before they could be joined together and rendered fit for 

 study. The presence of the last true molar, or wisdom tooth, 

 with the crown somewhat worn, shows that the skeleton belonged to 

 a fully-grown adult, though probably not an aged individual. 



The Skull (PI. XYI.) — The calvarium was fortunately less broken 

 than the long bones ; it is evident, however, that in drying it has 

 become twisted somewhat ; but its general characters are clearly 

 shown. The base and facial portions of this skull are wanting, 

 as well as much of the left side ; the right side, however, is more 

 perfect, the outer part of the orbit, with the maxilla and jugal bones, 

 being all that is really absent. A portion of the foramen magnum 

 is preserved, with sufficient of the supraoccipital bone to show the 

 form of the under and back parts of the brain-case. 



The most striking features of this skull are its extreme length 

 (205 millim. *) in proportion to its width (about 130 millim. ?), the 

 complete obliteration of the coronal, sagittal, and lambdoidal sutures, 

 both internally and externally, and tbe prominence of the supra- 

 ciliary ridges. The extreme narrowness of the cranium is best 

 seen when viewed from above ; but this peculiarity is somewhat 

 exaggerated by the distortion which the skull has undergone, the 

 right temporal bone, and the parts posterior to it, being pushed over 

 towards the left side ; and besides this, parts of the left side are 

 wanting. The greatest width of the skull is low down, near the 

 mastoid region, but its imperfections prevent the exact width from 

 being measured. 



The walls of the cranium are in most parts very thick, the 

 middle of each frontal measuring as much as 12 millim. The 

 3upraciliary ridges are very strongly developed, especially at their 

 inner part, although now in a denuded condition ; probably they 

 were never so prominent as in the famous Neanderthal calvaria. 

 The frontals are fairly full, and the forehead therefore only mode- 

 rately receding. The highest point of the skull is in the fore 

 part of the parietal region. The temporal ridge is not strongly 

 marked, but extends abnormally high up on the side of the skull. 

 The right parietal is somewhat inflated at its anterior and lower 

 part, and this inflation is continued on to the adjoining lower 

 part of the frontal, causing a prominent Stephanie region. Towards 

 its hinder part likewise the parietal is prominent. The occipital 

 bone forms a well-marked boss or probole at the back of the skull, 

 its upper part being directed well forward as well as upward, and 

 this portion, together with the median and hinder ends of the 

 parietals, forms a distinctly flattened area. 



1 Dr. Garson has kindly gone over the measurements with me, and where, 

 through imperfection of tbe specimen, we differed to the extent of a few 

 millimetres in our estimate, the intermediate measurement has been adopted. 



