BLAKE — ON THE CEANIA OE ANCIENT RACES. 



215 



Bed of Blaclcwater Biver^ ArmagJi (Ireland). — In this skull, 

 which has been kindly lent to me by Prof. Huxley, the alisphenoid 

 and the parietal join on the right side ; the apex, however, of the 

 parietal impinges on the alisphenoid on the left : the supraorbitals 

 are scarcely, if at all, prominent ; the retrocedent frontal, and the 

 calvarium sloping gently upwards to the centre of the parietal bone, 

 repeat here the characters of the Borris skull and the skull from the 

 Valley of the Trent. In the cast, the paroccipital tubercle is slightly 

 prominent on the right side. 



Valley of the Trent. — This skull repeats many of the characters 

 of the Borris and Blackwater skulls, from which, however, it is 

 markedly distinct. The alisphenoid and the parietal join on both 

 sides. On the right side the jugular eminence is pronouncedly 

 distinct, and indicates a well-defined paroccipital tubercle. The left 

 jugular eminence is, however, broken away. The digastric fossa is 

 deep ; the inion is protuberant. Over each orbit is a ridge, discon- 

 tinuous over the nasal suture, and which projects forwards. This 

 contains, on each side, large, distinct, and well-defined supraorbital 

 foramina. Along the sagittal suture is a slight elevation, or crest, 

 analogous to that often observed in the Australian races. The low 

 frontal bone reminds the observer forcibly of the Andaman skull,* 

 which it does not exceed in regard to its frontal development. 



One of the most important differences which the cranium of the 

 Troglodytes Gorilla presents to the human skull has been defined by 

 Prof. Owen (Osteological Catalogue of the College of Surgeons) 

 to be the more backward position of the foramen magnum, and 

 its more oblique plane in relation to the base of the skull in the 

 Gorilla, than in man. The almost horizontal direction of the 

 foramen magnum in the human species, co-related with the character 

 (situs erectus) applied by the Linnjean definition to man, is modified 

 in the Valley of the Trent skull, and such modification is in the direc- 

 tion of the inferior type. The angle made by a line drawn from the 

 anterior to the posterior margins of the foramen magnum, with 

 the plane of the basioccipital, is more oblique than I have observed 

 in any human skull, and markedly more so than in the so-called 

 "lowest" races of mankind, as e.g. the Australians and Andaman 

 Islanders. This character, coupled with the powerful occipital spine, 

 the ridged and crested surface of the lower half of the super- 

 occipital, indicative of the action of powerful nuchal ligaments 

 to keep the head from falling forwards, the presence of a "par- 

 occipital" process for the firmer attachment of the rectus capitis 

 lateralis, and the slightly more backward position of the occipital 

 condyles, seem to indicate that an entirely erect position was 

 not the normal attitude of the pre-historical contemporary of Bos 

 priinigenius in the Valley of the Trent. 



The skull from the Valley of the Trent exhibits, on the right side 

 of the upper half of the superoccipital bone, a partial retention of the 

 suture dividing the squama occipitalis from the lower half of the 

 * Owen, Trans. Ethn. Soc. 1862. 



