562 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
across the front of the hone and in the middle of the horizontal 
limbs was a series of incised denticulations enclosed within a 
faintly incised line. This design differed from the radiated pattern 
in the shape of the three limbs, more especially the ascending, and 
in the absence of a circle or circles at the centre of radiation. By 
the exercise of one’s imagination one could conceive the club-like 
limb to he a head, and the circle within it to be a cyclopian eye, 
whilst the short denticulations might represent the teeth contained 
within an open mouth. 
It is well known that the art of designing is exercised by people 
who, in many other respects, are primitive in their habits and 
mode of thought. The possession of this faculty is found in the 
Bushmen and the aboriginal Australians, as well as in the races 
of Polynesia. If we go back to prehistoric times in Europe we 
find that palaeolithic man portrayed on his implements and 
weapons faithful representations of the animals that were co- 
temporaneous with him, so that the artistic faculty appeared 
early in the evolution of the human intelligence. One is struck, 
however, in the study of the decorative art of Hew Guinea, with 
the conventional character of the patterns and with the variety 
of design displayed by the native artists. In the skulls now 
before me, as well as in those described by Messrs Dorsey and 
Holmes, no two patterns are exactly alike, and the artist in each 
case had not copied either his previous productions, or those of 
his fellows, but had followed the bent of his imagination. 
From the appearance presented by the designs, as is well shown 
in figs. 3 and 5, it is evident that they had not been cut in the 
bone by a sharp instrument, such as would be used by a European 
engraver, but had been scratched or scraped by a more primitive 
tool, made probably from a piece of shell. 
The question may now be considered whether the decorated 
crania were those of relatives or of enemies. With one exception, 
no skulls were fractured, or otherwise injured, as if from blows 
received during life. Ample evidence is given by travellers that 
the people of Hew , Guinea attach much importance to the 
preservation of human crania in and adjacent to their houses, 
although the practice of sculpturing designs on the frontal bone 
seems to be confined to a comparatively small area. The famous 
