No. 33.— 1886.] the veddIs of ceylon. 475 



I received from Dr. Burnell three skulls from the lower 

 castes of Tan j ore, therefore directly from the region corres- 

 ponding to the Chola or Soli of the Sinhalese annals. 



Of these three the one which is distinguished by a large 

 back palatal fissure proves so aberrant in form that it must 

 be excluded as pathological. The other two, however, are 

 very similar, except in the certainly very different form of 

 the palate, as we see in the main indices :— 



Index of breadth 



73-3 





75-4 



Index of height 



76-1 





78-2 



Orbital index 



85-3 





80-4 



Nasal index 



51-0 





50-0 



Palatal index 



73-0 





90-0 



Strictly speaking, only the height and the indices of the nose 

 agree well, both skulls being hypsicephalic and mesorrhine. 

 On the other hand, we find in all the other indices differences 

 which make it necessary to assign these skulls to other 

 categories, according to the special relations considered. One 

 is dolichocephalic the other mesocephalic. Which is here 

 typical ? One is hypsikonch the other mesokonch, one lepto- 

 staphyline the other brachystaphyline. According to which 

 shall we decide ? 



To be sure we may say that in such limited comparisons 

 chance figures often acquire a higher importance than belongs 

 to them. The difference of the indices of breadth, for 

 example, is just exactly as great (viz., 2*1) as the difference 

 in the indices of height, and yet we are obliged to classify 

 one skull as dolichocephalic and the other as mesocephalic, 

 because accidentally the border figure between the two 

 classifications is 75, and this is just between the two indices 

 73*3 and 75*4. On the other hand, the equally great differ- 

 ence in the indices of height does not prevent both skulls being 

 assigned to the same category, viz., the hypsicephalic, since 

 the number 76*1 as well as 78*2 is within the recognised ex- 

 treme. Which of these figures is more, which less accidental 

 I am unable to decide, and the calculation of an average from 

 the single cases would not aid in the decision. 



