W. R. Macdonell 
217 
up for all characters between the individuals we have selected for representation, 
and that it is nowhere possible to draw a line and say, here one " type " begins and 
there another ends. Take the material, however, as a whole whether in our tables 
of means, or in our tables of measurements or in the plates, and compare it with 
other series, German, or French, or Scandinavian and we see at once that it has a 
very marked individuality of its own ; that the English, or at any rate the London, 
skull of post-mediaeval times is a type sui generis. Whether this be the result of 
Blutvermischung, of selection or of environmental influence or of an absolute differ- 
ence of ancestry it might be hard to determine. But the fact remains perfectly 
certain, the English modal skull is markedly differentiated from those at any rate 
of central and southern Europe. 
(6) Special Crania. 
Out of the 292 skulls in this collection, 164 were noted as having some, it 
may be slight, anatomical peculiai'ities. As a rule such peculiarities were likely 
to occur in groups. Thus 280 peculiarities were recorded, or an average of '96 to 
each skull in the series, and 1"71 to each skull specially recorded for abnoi'mality. 
Of these abnormalities 151 were recorded in skulls supposed to be female and 129 
in skulls supposed to be male; the total number of skulls adjudged female was 
151 and adjudged male 141. In other words the abnormalities were on an average 
one to each female and "91 to each male skull. It will thus be seen that what 
greater tendency there is to abnormal variation lies in the female rather than in 
the male skull. Here as in every case where really scientific methods are applied 
to the problem there seems no reason for asserting that men show a more marked 
variational tendency than women. 
If we turn to the individual anomalies recorded, it may be noted that some of 
them are very slight, but still the general frequency of anomalous characters seems 
higher than in most long series of skulls. At first it appeared that possibly the 
fact noticed on p. 196 (iv) might explain this high frequency, but a second series of 
London skulls shows the same high, if not a higher, proportion. We are therefore 
forced to the conclusion that the English skull is probably remarkable for anomalous 
variations ; in this respect no series we have yet examined appears its equal, except 
possibly the Esquimaux series at Oxford. Our photographs will show how wide a 
range of anomalous variation can be represented from this one group. 
We shall now proceed to consider some of the individual cases, classifying them 
under : 
(i) Peculiarities of Form. 
A very frequent anomalous form consists in a post coronal constriction. We have 
spoken of this merely as a post coronal depression, if it is localised about the bregma. 
Post coronal constriction occurred in 19 crania, of which 15 were female, and 4 
male, one of the latter being of very doubtful sex. Post coronal depression in 27 
Biometrika in 28 
