222 



L. Manouvrier — Pithecanthropus erectus. 



the fossil individual from Trinil. According to the femur, it 

 would be a man with a perfect title to the name ; according to 

 the skull and the teeth, it is a creature low enough, in relation 

 to the lowest human races, to be considered as passing beyond 

 the lower limit for the human species or genus, so far as 

 known, in the measure that its inferiority represents the infe- 

 riority of its race. It is this last point that rests in the condi- 

 tion of a hypothesis, but of a hypothesis which has for itself 

 the greatest possibility. This hypothesis admitted, we are 

 obliged to agree, viewed from the point of view of the theory 

 of evolution, that the individual of Trinil, incontestably homi- 

 nian, presents an ensemble of anatomic conditions respond- 

 ing marvelously to that which the theory of evolution could 

 look for in an ancestral race. 



Pig. 4 (fig. 56) —Attempt at the reconstruction of the skull of Pithecanthropus. — 

 B, Basion. The points marked about the letter B indicate the limit of possible 

 errors. — C, Occipital crest. — pt, Inferior parietal crest almost joining the occipital 

 crest. — i, Inion. — HH', Horizontal plane of Broca (alveolo-condylian). — BA, Basio- 

 auricular line. — BO, Plane of the foramen magnum. 



As regards the skull, I have been able, by virtue of the cast 

 kindly given to the Anthropological Laboratory by Mr. Dubois, 

 to attempt the graphic reconstruction. I made the attempt 

 simply to satisfy myself of the aspect resulting from diverse 

 craniologic proportions, but I believe I have obtained a draw- 

 ing conforming approximately enough to the reality to be of 

 interest to anatomists. 



