314 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



region is low, but not markedly retrocedent. An even curve is continued 

 backwards to immediately behind tbe coronal suture, wlien the same 

 " post-coronal " depression is visible, as in the Mewshide and East- 

 ham skulls. The points of attachment of the temporal muscle are scarcely 

 visible. The coronal suture is, however, complex at the spot ^^here it 

 crosses the temporal attachments,— a character on which Messrs. Thurnam 

 and Davis have laid stress in British skulls. The parietal tubers are mo- 

 derately prominent. The superciliary ridges are not unduly developed, 

 and the fractured condition of the skull warrants us in affirming that the 

 frontal sinuses were small. As far as measurement can be made, the 

 length from the glabella to the apex of the lambdoidal suture is 7 inches ; 

 the breadth at the parietal tubers, 5^ inches ; at the coronal suture, 4^ 

 inches ; above the orbits, 3| inches. A fragment of right occipital condyle 

 probably belonged to the same young individual ; a fragment of the mas- 

 toid bone appertained to an elder person. ^ 



The fragment marked B is a most striking relic of antiquity. It is the 

 frontal bone, with much of the right parietal attached: the pieces of ^ hich 

 I have succeeded in joining together. The close similarity of it to the 

 fragmentary skull from Plymouth, which Professor Busk has described, 

 and I have figured from his plate (' Geologist,' vol. v. p. 212), must strike 

 every observer. Unlike, however, the Plymouth skull, the superciliary 

 ridges are markedly conspicuous. The retrocession of the forehead is very 

 peculiar, and strongly resembles that in the skulls from Sennen and Musk- 

 ham. Slight traces of the frontal suture can be seen. The frontal sinuses 

 are present, though small. No traces of the post-coronal depression are 

 visible. It is much to be regretted that no other pieces have been pre- 

 served of this curious skull. Many fragments, chiefly of parietal bones, 

 were also obtained ; but their condition precludes an opinion as to their 

 nature. The vertebrae and bones of the extremities did not offer any cha- 

 racters calling for especial notice. 



I believe that the fragment marked B was the skull which Mr. J. El- 

 liott, the careful explorer of the cave, stated* " may have been that of one 

 of the principal tenants of the cave, and which probably devoured the 

 others." This evidence of " a tolerably large animal " rather appears to 

 be that of a human being wdth forehead " villanously low," and whose 

 cranial characters were so striking as almost to excuse the error into which 

 Mr. Elliott was unintentionally led. 



The skull from Leicester is in good condition, and retains much of 

 its animal matter. It exhibits the even oval contour characteristic of 

 the existing type of Englishmen. By the smallness of the mastoid pro- 

 cesses, the slenderness of the zygomata and the slight degree in which 

 the surface is pitted with muscular depressions, I conjecture it to have 

 belonged to a female, and by the position of the wisdom teeth (m 3) in the 

 alveoli, the individual probably diet not exceed eighteen years of age. The 

 following is a table of the principal admeasurements : — 





Inches. 



Longitudinal diameter 



... 7 



Parietal diameter 



. 5 



Frontal diameter. 



. . . 51 



Vertical diameter 



. . . 4| 



Intermastoid arch 



. 13i 



Intermastoid dine 



. . . 3f 



Occipito-frontal arch . 



. . 14 



Horizontal periphery . 



. 19S 



^ ' Geologist,' vol. v. p. 36. 



