Remarks on the Skull of an Ancient Peruvian 77 



little above the upper semicircular line, to the similar angle 

 on the opposite side. It follows that this interparietal bone 

 occupies precisely that part of the occiput which in the other 

 crania is occupied by the upper portion of the occipital, and 

 which is connected with the parietals by the lambdoidal 

 suture. At four or five months, this bone is regularly united 

 to the occipital, and the union begins at the middle of the 

 suture, and advances by little and little towards both sides ; 

 although, even after a year, it is not found completely 

 effected, but in the middle only. A furrow shows the trace 

 of the suture ; this furrow is not obliterated even at the 

 most advanced age, and may be easily recognised in the 

 crania of all these races." 



In describing the cranium of a youth of the tribe called 

 Ohinchas, Dr Tschudi states that the length of the inter- 

 parietal bone in this individual is four inches at the base, 

 and an inch and ten lines high, — dimensions which suffi- 

 ciently prove that this formation is not to be confounded 

 with that of the small supernumerary bones called Wormi- 

 ana, which are uniformly found between the parietals in all 

 human crania, so that this interparietal bone is a true ano- 

 maly." He further remarks, — " It is a circumstance worthy 

 of the attention of learned anthropologists, that there is 

 thus found in one section of the human race a perpetual 

 anomalous phenomenon which is wanting in all others, but 

 which is characteristic of the ruminant and carnivorous 

 animals." The skull which I now exhibit belongs to the 

 race designated by Tschudi as the Chinchas, the most noted 

 tribe on the Peruvian coast between the 10th and 14th de- 

 grees of south, latitude ; but the other two tribes into which 

 he has divided the ancient Peruvians, namely, the Huancas 

 who occupied the territory between the Cordilleras and the 

 Andes, and the Aymaraes, who inhabited the Peru-Bolivian 

 plateau, upwards of 12,000 feet above the level of the sea, 

 had also, according to Tschudi, the interparietal bone. He 

 adds, — " Amongst the numerous crania which we had the 

 opportunity to examine in Peru, we have had the means of 

 convincing ourselves that this suture is invariably found 

 either open, or closed in part, or completely united to the 



