No. 33. — 1886.] the yeddAs of ceylon. 



403 



To these must be added the skull of a girl of Batticaloa, about 

 eighteen years of age, and now in the possession of Mr. Davis 

 (No. 803), which he himself calls an "aberrant example," 

 with an index of 78. To what cause due one cannot conceive 

 from the description, since the only thing mentioned about it 

 is that it has a processus papillaris before the foramen 

 magnum. 



Possibly deforming influences were at work among the 

 female Veddas to a greater extent, though in a less noticeable 

 manner. At least we calculate from the figures of Mr. Davis, 

 even omitting the probably deformed skull, a higher index 

 for the female than the male skulls. Mr. Flower and myself, 

 however, arrive at the opposite result, excluding the de- 

 formed skulls, viz.: — 



Davis . Flower. Virchow. 



mm. mm. mm. 



For Men ... (3) 69-6 ... (5) 70-9 ... (1) 73'0 

 For Women ... (6) 71-0 ... (1) 69-9 ... (1) 70-9 



In taking the average of the two sexes together, however, 

 the difference disappears, as then Mr. Flower's and my own 

 lower figures count for something, viz. : — 



mm. 



Men ... 9 skulls ... 70 7 

 Women ... 8 skulls ... 708 

 At any rate, we have among the number (twenty in all) 

 which come into the calculation, only four belonging to 

 mesocephaly (index of 75 : 1 — 80). Among the remaining 

 sixteen, however, are seven whose index amounts to something 

 under 70, which are therefore hyper-dolichocephalous. The 

 minimum amounts to 66 (Davis). Quite correct also was Mr. 

 Davis in saying (I. c, p. 132) that the Vedda skulls are 

 narrower than those of African Negroes, and sometimes as 

 narrow as those of the New Caledonians. The relation of 

 the single parts of the skull to the whole length = 100 is 

 somewhat different. With the male skull No. 3 the horizontal 

 length of the occipital region is greater, and the froutal 

 basilar length less. If we indicate the relation of the 



