526 
PROFESSOR OWEN’S DESCRIPTION OF THE CAVERN OF 
Although it does not include so large a proportion of the skull, it is more instructive 
in some respects than the preceding portion from the locality a, as it gives the length 
as well as the breadth of the cranial cavity. 
It consists of the entire upper part or half of the cranial dome, usually termed the 
‘ calvarium,’ including the major part of the frontal, both parietal, and of the expanded 
superoccipital bones. 
The following are admeasurements of the cranium afforded by this specimen, to which 
I append corresponding ones of a cast of the ‘ Engis skull,’ which it resembles in shape 
though relatively shorter : — 
Bruniquel Engis 
cranium. cranium*, 
in. lines. in. lines. 
6 
3 
Extreme length, or antero-posterior diameter, at the outer surface 6 8 
Extreme length, or antero-posterior diameter, at the inner surface 6 0 
Extreme breadth, or transverse diameter, at the outer surface . . 5 7 
Extreme breadth, or transverse diameter, at the inner surface . 5 2 
Length of the sagittal suture, following the curve 5 0 
The broken margins of the calvarium show the varying thickness of the bones ; at 
the frontal, which is broken away 2 inches 9 lines from the coronal suture, the bone is 
4 lines in thickness, and gradually decreases to 2 lines and lij? line in thickness as it 
approaches the parietal. The fractured margin of the parietal, near the frontal, and 
3 inches in a straight line from the sagittal suture, shows a thickness of 3 lines, which 
decreases towards the lower border of the parietal (on the right side) to 1 line, with 
obliteration of the intervening diploe ; at the middle of the parietal the thickness of 
the bone is 4^ lines. 
The superoccipital is fractured about half an inch below the lateral sinuses, at the 
upper part of the cerebellar fossa, where the pressure of the cerebellar lobes within, and 
of the complexi muscles without, reduces the bone to a thin compact plate of % of a line 
at some parts. The portion preserved has the shape of almost an equilateral triangle. 
The superoccipital, above the 1 superior curved line ’ or ridge, is rather more protu- 
berant than usual, and shows the pair of convexities answering to the posterior cerebral 
lobes. The occipital tuberosity is not distinct from, or more prominent than, the trans- 
verse ridge of which it forms the middle part ; below the ridge the superoccipital shows 
a concavity vertically, not divided by a vertical crest, of which only the beginning is 
indicated at the ‘ protuberance.’ 
The cerebral fossae are well-marked smooth concavities on the inner surface of the 
superoccipital, the left, as usual, being the larger ; and the superior longitudinal sinus 
descending to the right of the crest for the ‘ falx cerebri,’ which divides the cerebral 
fossae. The course of the lateral sinuses is marked by thick obtuse ridges diverging 
* Regarded by the experienced anthropologist ‘ Pruner Bey ’ as exhibiting “ le type celtiqne parfait.” — 
Bulletin de la Societe d’Anthropologie, 8vo, 1863, p. 305. Unfortunately, like the 4 Neanderthal’ skull, wanting 
the required demonstration of its antiquity. 
