34 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the glabella to the inion, by 150 mm. in width at the widest part of 

 the parietal region ; and the bones are remarkably thick, the average 

 thickness of the frontals and parietals being 10 mm., while an excep- 

 tional thickness of 12 mm. is reached at one corner. The forehead is 

 steeper than that of the Neanderthal type, with only a feeble brow- 

 ridge, and the conformation of the occipital bone shows that the 

 tentorium over the cerebellum is on the level of the external occipital 

 protuberance, as in modern man. Seen from behind the skull is 

 remarkably low and broad, and the mastoid processes are relatively 

 small. The right mandibular ramus is nearly complete to the middle 

 of the symphysis, lacking only the articular condyle and the upper 

 part of the bone in advance of the molars. The horizontal ramus is 

 slender, and, so far as preserved, resembles in shape that of a young 

 Chimpanzee (Anthropopitheciis niger). The lower symphysial border 

 is not thickened and rounded, as in man, but produced into a thin 

 inwardly curved flange, as in the apes. The ascending ramus is 

 comparatively wide, with extensive insertions for the temporal and 

 masseter muscles, and a very slight sigmoid notch above. Molars 

 1 and 2, which occur in their sockets, are typically human, though 

 they are comparatively large and narrow, each bearing a fifth cusp. 

 The socket of molar 3 indicates an equally large tooth, placed well 

 within the ascending ramus of the jaw. The two molars have been 

 worn perfectly flat by mastication, a circumstance suggesting that 

 the canines resembled those of man in not projecting sensibly above 

 the level of the other teeth. The weakness of the mandible, the 

 slight prominence of the brow-ridges, the small backward extent of 

 the origin of the temporal muscles, and the reduction of the mastoid 

 processes suggest that the specimen belongs to a female individual, 

 and it in:' irded as representing a hitherto unknown genus 



and species, for which a new name is proposed. 



The authors conclude that the Piltdown gravel-bed is of the same 

 age as the contained Chellean implements, which are not so much 

 waterworn as most of the associated flints. The rolled fragments of 

 molars of the Pliocene Elephant and Mastodon are considered to have 

 been derived with the flints from older gravels ; while the other 

 mammalian remains and the human skull and mandible, which cannot 

 have been transported far by water, must be assigned to the period of 

 the deposition of the gravel-bed itself. The remoteness of that period 

 is indicated by the subsequent deepening of the valley of the Ouse 

 to the amount of 80 ft. 



In the Appendix, Prof. Elliot Smith remarks that, although the 

 brain presents a remarkable general similarity to the well-known 

 cranial casts of Palaeolithic man, and especially to those of Gibraltar 

 and La Quina, which are supposed to be feminine, the cast of the 

 skull here described is smaller and more primitive in form than any 

 of these. The most noteworthy feature is the pronounced Gorilla- 

 like drooping of the temporal region, due to the extreme narrowing 

 of its posterior part, which causes a deep excavation of its under 

 surface. This feeble development of the part of the brain which 

 recent research has shown to be intimately related to the power of 



