440 PRINCIPAL SIR WM. TURNER ON 



the breadth, and the index was 102 "6 and 102 "8 respectively. In one skull these 

 dimensions were equal, but in 122 skulls the width exceeded the height, though in 

 several specimens by not more than 1, 2, or 3 mm. In fifty -seven skulls the index 

 was above 89, or megaseme ; in thirty-three skulls it was below 84, or microseme ; in 

 the remaining thirty-three it was between 84 and 89, i.e. mesoseme. In a considerable 

 proportion of the Scottish skulls the aperture of the orbit was high in relation to the 

 width and was somewhat rounded in outline. 



In the dimensions of the orbit the European, with the comparatively rounded out- 

 line of the aperture, more closely approximated to the anthropoid character than did 

 the Australian and Tasmanian ; though these races in the form and projection of the 

 supra-orbital region were more allied to the gorilla, chimpanzee and palaeolithic man 

 than was the European. It seems, therefore, as if the strong supra-orbital development 

 did not produce so great an effect on the vertical diameter of the orbit as might at first 

 seem to have been likely, though it should be kept in mind that the orang with its 

 high orbital index does not have the supra-orbital region so strongly developed as in 

 the gorilla and chimpanzee. 



Nasal Region. — A frequent character in the skulls of male Australians was a deep 

 depression at the nasion, due to the projection of the glabella and the recession of the 

 fronto-nasal suture. In the male Tasmanians a similar appearance was present, though 

 usually not so strongly marked as in the Australians. The Neanderthal and Spy 

 crania showed even more pronounced examples of this character. In Europeans, again, 

 a strongly depressed nasion was quite exceptional, and could not be regarded as a race 

 character. Neither the gorilla nor the orang had a depressed nasion, and the glabella 

 joined the root of the nose by a very gentle curve ; in the chimpanzee the curve was 

 more abrupt, though without the formation of an acute nasion depression. In this 

 feature, therefore, the Australian, the Tasmanian and palaeolithic man differed more 

 widely from the anthropoids than is the case with the European. 



The form and articulations of the nasal bones also require to be considered. In 

 the adult gorilla and chimpanzee, owing to the early obliteration of the facial sutures, 

 it was difficult to state precisely the position of the fronto-nasal suture, and to measure 

 the length of the nasal bones, in young animals, however, these points could be 

 ascertained. In two chimpanzees, in the stage of the milk dentition, the nasals were 

 fused together in each skull, and the conjoined bones were 20 and 14 mm. long 

 respectively. They ascended between the internal orbital processes of the frontal 

 to the glabella, and were as if wedged in between the ascending processes of the 

 superior maxillae. They were only 3 mm. wide at the constriction in the middle 

 of their length, but widened to 7 mm. near the tip. In an orang at almost the same 

 stage of dentition, as well as in an older specimen in which the milk canines had not 

 been shed, the nasals were fused and narrow, and were 22 and 23 mm. long respectively. 

 In the adults the nasals were 30, 33 and 37 mm. long respectively, and seemed to 

 penetrate the substance of the glabella, in which they tapered to a point. In the 



