THE ABORIGINES OF TASMANIA. 433 



tibia, and the inner moved on the more internal tibial facet which was prolonged on to 

 the internal malleolus. 



The occurrence of similar special articular facets on the tibia and astragalus was 

 first recognised by Professor Arthur Thomson in the skeletons of Australians, 

 Andaman Islanders, and some other aboriginal people ; he associated their production 

 with the pressure of the tibia on the astragalus when the ankle was acutely flexed in 

 the squatting posture.* He also observed that the three Tasmanian skeletons in 

 the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons had inferior tibial facets and in two 

 of these astragalar facets also. That the Tasmanians adopted, when resting, the 

 squatting posture, is evident from the testimony of the early navigators, t The 

 relation of the special tibial and astragalar facets to the squatting posture was also 

 detailed by Sir Havelock Charles J in his memoir on the influence of pressure and 

 posture in producing modifications in the skeleton of natives of the Punjab. 



The malleolar groove on the back of the tibia for the tendons of the tibialis posticus 

 and flexor longus hallucis was broad and deep. 



Fibula. — The characteristic features of this bone were strongly marked, and a 

 well-defined smooth area on the head, in front of the tibial articular surface, had 

 attached to it the tendon of the biceps and the external lateral ligament. 



Length of long Bones and relative Indices. — The dimensions of the bones of 

 the shaft of the lower limb were as follows : — 



Femur, maximum length, .... 



,, trochanteric-condylar length, 



„ oblique maximum length, . 

 Tibia, maximum length, .... 



„ condylo-astragalar length, without spine, 

 Fibula, maximum length, .... 



The corresponding long bones were not of equal length in the two limbs, and the 

 right bones were somewhat longer than the left. In my Challenger Report I recorded 

 a number of examples of inequalities in the length of the bones of the shaft in the same 

 skeleton, and I referred to the previous measurements by Drs Wight and Cox, and 

 Dr Garson. It is exceptional indeed to find the femora and tibiae in opposite limbs 

 equal in length, and the left bones are usually somewhat longer than the right, though 

 the opposite was the case in the skeleton now under consideration. 



In my previous memoir on the aborigines of Tasmania I stated the stature of 

 the people as determined by measurements made during life, from which it appeared 

 that it ranged in men from 5 ft. 1 in. to 5 ft. 6 or 7 in., with a mean of 5 ft. 3f in., 

 and in women from 4 ft. 3 in. to 5 ft. 4 in., with the mean 4 ft. ll£ in. Estimates 

 have also been taken of the stature from measurements of the skeleton, and Barnard 



* Opus cit., vol. xxiii. p. 616, and vol. xxiv. p. 210. 



t See Aborigines of Tasmania, by H. Ling Roth, p. 13. 



X Journ. of Anat. and Phys., vol. xxviii. p. 1, 1894. 



Right. 



Left. 



. 424 mm. 



422 mm 



. 408 „ 



407 „ 



• 421 „ 



419 „ 



. 353 „ 



349 „ 



. 350 „ 



346 „ 



• 344 „ 



337 „ 



