No. 33.— 1886.] THE VEDDAS OF CEYLON. 



447 



If, on the other hand, we compare the Tamils with the 

 Veddas and the Sinhalese, a radical contrast appears, especially 

 as regards' the share of the brow and the upper part of the 

 occipital bone in the forming of the skull-roof. Whilst with 

 the Tamils it culminates in the frontal division, with the 

 Sinhalese, and still more with the Veddas, the occipital is 

 strongly developed. The hybrid, in the stronger parietal 

 development, comes nearer to the Sinhalese. 



Still more striking are the variations in regard to the form 

 of the head. To be sure, my plagiocephalic Tamil skull, 

 No. 1, here takes an exceptional place, because owing to its 

 surprisingly little breadth (126 mm.) it gives a low dolicho- 

 cephalic index (72). On the other hand, the skull out of the 

 Davis collection has a high mesocephalic index (79), and of 

 my two Tamils, one (No. 2) is at the extreme boundary of 

 dolichocephaly (74*8), the other (No. 3) even beyond this, and 

 at the beginning of mesocephaly (75*3), the average being 

 76-3, therefore mesocephalic. The two hybrids show the 

 same relations ; skull No. 316 of Davis has an index of 76*7, 

 the child's skull in my collection has one of 77. This, con- 

 trasted with the excellent dolichocephaly of the Sinhalese, 

 and, with a few exceptions, of the Veddas also, is a very 

 important result. 



The smaller occipital development of the Tamil can be seen 

 from this, that the horizontal length of the occiput in relation 

 to the entire length (a) is less ; on the other hand, the basilar 

 length in the same relation (b) is greater. 



No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. 



(a) 27-4 ... 23-4 ... 27-0 



(b) 57-1 ... 54-1 ... 55-8 



The greatest length on an average is small. With Davis it 

 amounts to 173, in my skulls to 175, 179, and 170 ; hence in no 

 case reaching even the moderate measure of 180 mm. The 

 hybrid from the Davis collection measures only 168 mm., 

 while my child's skull measures 172. The greatest breadth, 

 which is always in the parietal region, is found in a skull of 



h2 



