1887] — Variation of the Human Shoulder-Blade. a: 37 
cannot as yet be much more than guessed at. The question 
suggests a field for inquiry, which has as yet hardly been opened, 
but which in the course of years may bear a rich crop. Some- 
thing has been done in this direction by Mr. W. Arbuthnot 
Lane, of London." 
Livon found that in women both indices were higher than in 
men, while, as above stated, Broca found the reverse, but in very 
small series, I do not feel convinced that Livon’s are large 
enough to put the fact beyond question, and cértainly it would 
be rash to draw any conclusion as regards a single individual. 
Probably the actual size of the bone, and more particularly that 
of the glenoid cavity, are the best indications of the sex that 
the bone offers, and these are of but little value. 
It must be remembered that the great range of individual 
variation does not necessarily destroy the value of Broca’s in- 
dices, but it shows that the method must be applied to large 
series of bones from well-marked races. It is gratifying to find 
this view supported by no less an authority than Sir William 
Turner, who writes, “ For I gather from my own measurements 
and those of other observers, that the range of variation in the 
relative length and breadth of the scapula is very considerable in 
the same race, so that it needs a large number of bones to enable 
one to obtain an accurate idea of the mean of any race.” * 
APPENDIX. 
THE INDICES OF ANTHROPOID APES, 
Both Broca and Flower and Garson published the indices of 
-anthropoid apes in their papers, which have been referred to 
so often. As the number of observations is necessarily small, I 
am glad to be able to offer a few additional ones. Broca gives 
the indices of ten gorilla skeletons, of five chimpanzees, of one 
orang, and of seven gibbons. Flower and Garson give the in- _ : 
_ dices of sixteen bones of the gorilla, of twenty-one of the chim- | 
; _ panzee, of seventeen of the orang, and of eight of the gibbon. — 
o * The Pathology of Changes produced by Pressure in the Bony Skeleton of the 
_ Trunk, Guy’s Hospital Reports, vol. xliii., 1886 ; 
2 It is proper to mention that this paper had been written and sent to the NAT- 
i URALIST before I had seen Professor Turner’s remarks on the scapula in the“ Chal- 
lenger” Reports. Through the courtesy of the editors I have had an opportunity to is 
mor if ' my paper here and there by quoting from his work. ee a 
