106 
THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGED. 
Ecker’s Australian was 85, and of Keferstein’s 82. The mean tibio-femoral index of this 
series of twenty-seven Australian skeletons is therefore 83*3. It should be stated, 
however, that the various measurements by myself and these other anatomists have not 
been made in precisely the same way ; for both Ecker and Flower take the maximum 
length of the bones, both the spine and malleolus of the tibia being included ; Spengel 
has apparently followed the same plan ; Keferstein, whilst giving the maximum length 
of the femur, measures the tibia between the two articular surfaces, and thus excludes 
both spine and malleolus ; the index recorded by Topinard was obtained from the 
maximum length of the femur, and from the tibia between the condylar articular surface 
and the tip of the malleolus. For the reason stated on p. 102, I have taken a somewhat 
different measurement in constructing Table XIII., but I have also calculated the mean 
index of my six male Australians according to the method of M. Topinard, and have 
obtained 84 as the index. 1 It follows, therefore, that according to this method a some- 
what higher index is obtained than on the plan followed in constructing Table XIII., and 
this index would have been yet further increased if the spine of the tibia had been 
included in the length of that bone. These differences in the method of measurement 
and in the computed indices are to be kept in mind in the comparison of my observa- 
tions with those of other anatomists, though my own observations are. of course com- 
parable with each other. 
The tibio-femoral index in the two female Oahuans was 83 in each skeleton. In the 
Otago Maori it was 86 ; but in the left limb of the Maori from Te Aroha it was only 
77*7, the tibia being unusually short. M. Topinard’s measurements of five male Poly- 
nesians yield an index of 82 ‘2, eight New Caledonians of 83 T, and three female New 
Caledonians of 84*5. Barnard Davis’s Loyalty Islander had an index of 82, and his Tannese 
80. 2 In Spengel’s “ Alfuru ” the index was 8 5 '9. The mean length of the femur in the 
Fiji Islanders measured by Spengel was 442 mm., and that of the tibia 362*4 mm., 
which gave an index of 81*8. Forty -four femora and twenty-eight tibiae of Papuans 
were collected near Rubi, New Guinea, by Dr. Meyer ; Ttingel’s measurements of these 
bones gave, in the adult males, the mean length of the femur as 443*45 mm., and that of 
the tibia as 364*6 mm., the index being 82*2. 
In two Tasmanian men measured by M. Topinard the mean tibio-femoral index was 
83*6, and in two women it was 82*3 ; in skeletons measured by Barnard Davis this 
index was 80 in a woman, and the mean in three men was 85. 
The tibio-femoral index in my male Bushman was 78*8 ; in a man measured by G. 
Fritsch the index was 82, and in a woman 79*5; in two Bushwomen recorded by M. 
Topinard the mean index was 85*8 ; from the measurements of three skeletons (sex not 
stated) given by Professor Humphry an index of 86 has been computed. In four male 
1 The maximum lengths are given in Table XIV., p. 109. 
2 Barnard Davis’s measurements record the “ extreme length” both of femur and tibia, as also do those of E. Tiingel. 
