Remarks on the Skull of an J ncient Peru vian 11 
little above the upper semicircular Hue, 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 
Chirichas, Dr Tscliudi 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 
