974 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXIV. 
the amulets of the west coast called ‘fetiches.’ Behold pages of 
description and explanation of their use and significance poured in. 
That was evidence that my desire was justified. . 
“It seems as if the problem of African la, or, for aught 
I care, religion, had been so worked over as to be worn out and a 
bore. Yet the many tomes on fetichism and African religion have 
brought forth not much more than clever views, — hardly ethnological. 
“It now begins to dawn, and the light shows very remarkable and 
unexpected phenomena. We can only attain clearness if in Africa 
too inquiry is directed along the new lines. It is an aim of this 
work to urge on this process. It will be and can be only a pleasure 
if students and ethnologists tear up the book and discover faults and 
mistakes; up and forward! The ethnological part will be justified 
if it only offers inducement to zealous coöperation and energetic 
3? 
progress. CHARLES PEABODY. 
Ancient Crania from the Valley of the Rhone. — Dr. Pittard? 
has published a summary-of his investigations upon a large series of 
ancient Valaisian crania. After an exhaustive comparison of the 
crania of the two sexes he reaches the following conclusions : 
1. In the auricular angles the female skull surpasses the male by 
the absolute size of the frontal angle, by the size of the two occipi- 
tal angles — cerebral as well as cerebellar. 
2. In the curves the various segments of the skull are larger in 
the male. 
3. The weight of the male skull is absolutely greater, as is also 
the cranial capacity; but relatively the female skull has greater 
capacity in proportion to its weight. 
4. In relation to their total horizontal circumference the female 
skulls have a greater capacity than the male. 
s. The principal cerebral diameters are better developed in 
proportion to the cranial capacity in the female skulls. 
6. 'The frontal breadth is greater relatively to the facial breadth 
in the females. 
7. On the other hand, the parietal region is less developed in the 
female skull if compared with the horizontal circumference and the 
true cerebral curve. 
8. In the female skull the frontal is more vertical, the nasal 
aperture is larger, and the orbits higher. 
1 Pittard, Eugéne. Quelques Comparaisons Sexuelles du Cranes Anciens de 
la Vallée du Rhone, Z’ Anthropologie, tome ix, No. 2. 
