THE EVOLUTION OF THE EYEBROW REGION OF THE FOREHEAD. 299 



extent of the sulci supraciliares and also at the same time to tilt them forward, so that 

 in the higher types of forehead their surfaces no longer look upwards as in the gorilla, 

 but almost directly to the front. In this respect there cannot be a doubt that the 

 Neanderthal cranium occupies an intermediate position between, say, the chimpanzee 

 and the vast majority of recent skulls ; but occasionally a recent skull is met with 

 which shows an approximation to the Neanderthal condition, and which, so to speak, 

 occupies the gap which exists in this respect between the Neanderthal race and man of 

 the present day. 



The New South Wales cranium is a specimen of this kind. It possesses tori supra- 

 orbitales similar in form and constitution to those of the Neanderthal cranium, but it 

 differs from the latter in the extent of the sulci supraciliares. These, it is true, have 

 an unusual width and extent for recent man, being 10 mm. wide on the right side and 

 13 mm. wide on the left side ; but they fall far short of the corresponding sulci in the 

 Neanderthal cranium, which are 18 mm. wide on the right side and 19 mm. wide on the left 

 side. Further, this broad sulcus in the Neanderthal cranium is more depressed, and its 

 surface looks more directly upwards, than in the New South "Wales specimen. 



Associated with this approximation of the eyebrow region to the Neanderthal type, 

 the New South Wales skull presents a low and degraded forehead. The bregma-nasion- 

 inial angle is only 53°, and the index of the frontal curve is so low as 18 (3). 



Amongst Australian crania it is possible to find specimens in which the eyebrow 

 region conforms in every respect with the requirements of Type III., and yet possess, 

 associated with this, a degree of frontal curvature as bold as that which is characteristic 

 of the European skull. In PI. II., fig. 22, there is reproduced the photograph of the skull 

 of a male Queenslander. In this specimen the B.N.I, angle is no less than 64° — the 

 average angle in the Australian being 60°, and in the Scottish 61°. Further, the index 

 of the frontal curvature in the Queensland skull in cpiestion reaches the high figure of 

 24*5 (3). In this skull the eyebrow ridges form two continuous arches as in the 

 Neanderthal cranium, but the supraciliary depressions are narrow grooves and look almost 

 directly forward. 



The two Australian skulls which I have selected as examples of Type III. of the 

 supraorbital region exhibit this condition in a more marked degree than any other 

 specimens in the ethnological collection of the University. In the twenty-five 

 Australian skulls specially examined, Type III. occurred in three cases, all of which 

 were males, viz. in two natives of Victoria and in one native of Queensland. I have 

 not seen this type of supraorbital region in any female skull. 



Amongst the Australians, transitional forms of the eyebrow region between Type II. 

 and Type III. are very common. One of the most remarkable instances of this is to 

 be seen in the skull from the Riverina district to which reference has already been 

 made (xxix. B. 12). In this specimen the eyebrow eminences are very pronounced 

 (PI. III., fig. 24). As mentioned before, the glabellar part of the frontal bone 

 measures over the curvature 41 mm., or only 2 mm. less than the correspond- 



TRANS. ROY. SOC. EDIN., VOL. XLVI. PART II. (NO. 12). 45 



