THE ABORIGINES OP TASMANIA. 447 



articulation. In the gibbons also similar variations occurred. In the old world monkeys, 

 whilst the rule is for the squamous and frontal to articulate, in some crania this was not 

 the case, and the ali-sphenoid joined directly the parietal. It was obvious, therefore, 

 that both in man and apes the ossification in the pterion was subject to variation. When 

 in man the squamoso-frontal articulation occurred, it was an individual peculiarity, and 

 not a race character ; the same should be said of the occurrence of epipteric bones. 



As I have pointed out in Part L, variations in convexity occurred in the supra- 

 inial occipital squama of the Tasmanian skulls, from a large rounded protuberance 

 to an almost plane surface (though the inion in No. 5 formed the occipital pole), and 

 consequently a modification in the depth of the space for the occipital lobes of the 

 cerebrum was produced. It may suffice to state that the Brussels skull was 1 mm. 

 less prominent than the mean of the previous series. When the occipital squama 

 approximated to a plane surface it resembled the form of the Neanderthal skull in the 

 occipital region, and when present in a skull it indicated, especially if the inion formed 

 the occipital pole, a more primitive type of cranium.* 



Fronto-parietal region. — The forehead, bregma and vertex are important factors 

 in the study of the curvatures of the vault of the human cranium. The forehead 

 ascends from the glabella and supra-orbital region, more or less vertically, and then 

 curves backwards and upwards to the coronal suture and the bregma. In the male 

 Tasmanians the lower forehead receded, though not to a great extent, and the frontal 

 eminences were distinct. The upper forehead showed a mesial triangular raised area 

 bounded on each side by a longitudinal depression. In width the forehead was narrow ; 

 the diameter at the stephanion in ten males ranged from 99 to 111 mm., and the mean 

 was 103 '6 mm. 



In the Australians, whilst in females and young skulls the lower forehead receded only 

 slightly, in adult males it definitely sloped backwards, in some specimens to a remarkable 

 extent, and the frontal eminences projected feebly. A raised triangular mesial area was 

 not a customary feature of the upper forehead, but frequently the line of the obliterated 

 frontal suture was defined by a median ridge. The width of the forehead was, as a rule, 

 greater than in the Tasmanians; in ten males the Stephanie diameter ranged from 104 

 to 120 mm., and the mean was 108 mm. In the male Scottish skulls the lower 

 forehead only slightly receded ; the frontal eminences were fairly marked, the upper 

 forehead had neither a raised area nor a median ridge. The forehead was broad and 

 capacious ; the Stephanie diameter in ten males ranged from 116 to 130 mm., and the 

 mean was 123*4 mm. In the Neanderthal cranium the division of the frontal into a 

 lower and an upper forehead was faintly indicated, and the same remark applied to the 

 frontal eminences ; no median frontal ridge was present ; the Stephanie diameter was 

 approximately 109 mm. Of the two Spy crania, one showed a distinct transverse 

 demarcation between the lower and upper forehead, and the frontal eminences were in 



* Huxley, Man's Place in Nature, 1863 ; also my paper " On the Fossil Skull Controversy " in Quarterly Journal 

 of Science, April and October, 1864. 



