182 
A First Study of the Burmese Skull 
feature which I was tempted sometimes to think answered best to the description 
"upper rim." This is a notch on the postero-superior side whose lower Up, project- 
ing somewhat, suggests a border to the orifice, especially where this notch, as may 
happen, is carried forward above the opening. Although the edge of this lip, or 
the curve continued from it where it fails to extend right over the opening, might 
in many cases be a possible interpretation of the words (one also perhaps giving 
less room for personal equation between different workers and different schools of 
workers), there were others in which the upper rim was exceedingly well defined 
and certainly did not coincide with the curve continued from the notch. I there- 
fore disregarded this feature in all the skulls, endeavouring to identify the break 
in direction of the upward curve of the bone apart from this. 
So much for the determination of the auricular point as defined. In the use 
of this point for craniophor measurements, however, another difficulty presented 
itself in a considerable number of cases in my series. The skull is supported on the 
craniophor by means of ear-plugs, and it is obvious that the ear-plugs must enter 
a little distance into the orifices for the skull to be supported safely by them: 
their tips cannot stop short at the auricular points. Now, in some skulls, the roof 
of the auricular orifice does not rise immediately after leaving the auricular point, 
nor yet take a horizontal direction, but continues with a slight downward direction 
for a short distance. When this is so, our auricular points do not actually come in 
contact with the ear-plugs, which touch a lower part of the roof a little distance 
inside. From an examination of the transverse contours I find that in 129 cases 
out of the 259 auricular passages (right and left) which were traced, the auricular 
point rested on the ear-plugs; in the remaining 130 it was shghtly raised. The 
mean distance of auricular point from top of ear-rod in the whole series was 0-5 mm., 
and the maximum distance — reached in two cases — was 2-8 mms. Thus the auricular 
height OH, defined as height of skull above the auricular points, when measured 
by the craniophor, actually takes the height of skull above the point of contact 
with the ear-rods, and thereby increases by 0-5 mm. in my series the auricular 
height as defined: an amount which would doubtless vary with every racial series 
measured. 
Certainly this might be reduced or increased by the personal equation of the 
worker inserting the plugs. I have therefore examined my transverse contours to 
see to what extent this factor operated in my series. One might take 5 mms. as 
the minimum distance consistent with safety to which the tops of the plugs could 
be pushed in beyond the auricular points. In practice I estimate that I myself 
pushed the plugs in further than this, roughly to 15 mms. beyond the vertical 
from the zygomatic ridge, which would be between 11 and 12 mms. beyond the 
auricular point (the difference between the mean ordinates to auricular point and 
zygomatic ridge in the transverse contours being 3-4 mms. for males, 3-3 mms. 
for females). What difference might this make? My transverse contours show that 
the lowest point of the part of the vertical section of the roof of the orifice which 
lies within 11-12 mms. of the perpendicular through the auricular point — and 
would thus be the point of contact of ear-plug with the skull as I inserted it — 
