56 
THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
and inclination of the sacrum in certain of the pelves are also well marked. Compare 
for example, the pelvis of the Scotsman with that of the Australian, and the pelvis of 
the Sikh with that of the Malay. It will also be noticed that the apex of the sacrum is 
on a much higher plane, as regards the upper border of the pubic symphisis, in certain 
pelves than in others ; compare, e.g., the Scotsman and Sikh with the Oahuan. I direct 
attention to these various points so that those who may have additional specimens for 
examination may test in how far they are racial, or only individual characters. 
4. Age Characters of Pelvis. 
Various anatomists have pointed out that when the pelvis of the new-born infant, or 
the child, is compared with that of the adult of either sex, important differences in the 
form and proportions of the pelvic brim can be seen. In the child the lateral boundary 
of the brim is not so concave relatively to the rest as in the adult, the opposite sides are 
more nearly parallel to each other, and the transverse diameter is proportionally less 
than the conjugate. From the observations of Litzmann on the pelvis in European 
children it would appear that, up to the age of thirteen, the transverse diameter of the 
brim very slightly exceeds, and indeed is occasionally less than the conjugate, but after 
that age it is constantly greater. He has given the following comparative statement of 
the differences in the proportions in the new-born infant and adult in the two sexes, the 
conjugate diameter being regarded as equal to I'OO ; transverse diameter in male infant 
I'll, in male adult 1'294 ; transverse diameter in female infiint r07, in adult 1*292. 
Differences also occur at the base of the sacrum, in wliich bone the wings grow propor- 
tionally more than the body of the bone. Litzmann states that whilst in the new-born 
child the wings of the 1st sacral vertebra are scarcely half as broad as its body (male 
0'45 to 1, female 0*46 to 1); in a man the mean proportion is 0*56 to 1 ; in a woman 
0*7G to 1. During growth the body of this vertebra increases not quite three times in 
width, whilst the wings in a woman increase nearl}^ five times, and in a man three and 
a half times. The sacrum in the adult has its base projected further forward than in the 
child, and its anterior surface is more concave, the beginning of the curvature being 
usually in the middle of the 3rd vertebra. 
In the skeletons of the coloured races described in this Eeport I have estimated the 
proportion of the breadth of the body of the 1st sacral vertebra to the greatest breadth of 
that bone. The mean breadth of the sacrum in the six male Australians was 103*6 mm., 
and the mean breadth of the body of the 1st sacral vertebra was 49 mm., so that the 
latter had to the former the proportion of 47*2 to 100. In the single female the propor- 
tion was remarkably small, being only 37 to 100. In the five Sandwich Island women the 
mean breadth of the sacrum was 1 12*6, and that of the body of the 1st sacral vertebra 51*4, 
the proportion between the two being 45*6 to 100. In the Tonga Islander the proportion 
