Professor W. H. FLOWER, LL.D., F.R.S., President, in the Chair.

The Minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. The following presents were announced, and thanks voted to the respective donors:

FOR THE LIBRARY.

From the AUTHOR.-Among the Indians of Guiana. By Everard F. im Thurm, M.A.

Hommes Fossiles et Hommes Sauvages By A. de
Quatrefages.

An Account of Elau, a Malayan Papuan Child. By George
Bennett, M.D.

From the GOVERNMENT OF MADRAS.-Report of the Government
Central Museum.

1882-3.

From the GERMAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY. Correspondenz-Blatt, October, 1883.

From the INSTITUTION.―Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. No. 121.

From the SOCIETY.-Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow. 1882-3.

Journal of the Society of Arts. Nos. 1616, 1617.

VOL. XIII.

2 F

From the EDITOR.-Matériaux pour l'Histoire de l'Homme. 1882, Nos. 7 to 11.

Revue Scientifique. Tom. XXXI, Nos. 19, 20.
Revue Politique. Nos. 19, 20.

The following paper was read by the author :

On the CRANIAL CHARACTERS of the NATIVES of TIMOR-LAUT. By J. G. GARSON, M.D., F.Z.S.; Memb. Anthrop. Inst.; Anat. Assist. Royal College of Surgeons; and Lecturer on Comparative Anatomy, Charing Cross Hospital.

[WITH PLATES XXIV AND XXV.]

IN the following communication I intend to direct attention to the characters presented by a series of skulls from Timorlaut (a group of small islands situated between New Guinea and Australia) collected and brought home by Mr. H. O. Forbes. Before doing so, it will be well to recapitulate briefly the chief characters of the inhabitants of the islands observed by Mr. Forbes, and described by him in a paper read last session before this Institute, published in its Journal (Vol. XIII, p. 8, et seq.). In height both men and women vary considerably, some being of low stature, while others are very tall; on an average, however, both sexes are tall and well developed, especially the men. The usual colour of the skin "is a rich chocolate brown, but here and there amongst them occurs a quite black-skinned individual, who is at once remarkable as being an exception to the prevailing colour." The character of the hair varies likewise in different individuals and in both sexes. Many possess long straight black hair, while others, fewer in number, are frizzlyhaired. The men develop scanty whiskers and beard, which they frequently depilate. The forehead is usually slightly retreating, the superciliary ridges prominent; the face somewhat flat; the cheek-bones prominent in some instances among the long black-haired people, but in others little observable; the eyes small and narrow; the brows low. Two distinct forms of nose are observable: the one very flat, between the eyes, advancing with a straight dorsum to a markedly pointed and retroussé tip, which shows both nostrils and the septum conspicuously; the other elevated at the base, with straight dorsum, rarely arched, compressed slightly in the middle, "and the tip pointed, depressed, and incurved to form a thick fat septum," the nostrils almost

concealed, and the ala nasi much inflated. The upper lip is prognathous, and the upper teeth usually project beyond the lower, though in many people they meet evenly. "Both men and women chew sirie and betel with chalk, and the latter grind down their teeth almost to the alveoli." The posterior portion of the head has frequently a flattened and deformed appearance. This is especially observed in young persons and infants. It arises from the children being laid in cradles or flat baskets of rattan ropes woven together, with usually only a palm-leaf under them. No sort of binding is applied to the head at any stage of life to cause the deformity.

The osteological remains now to be described were obtained from the island of Larat, and consist of a series of eleven skulls and crania. Of these, nine are adult, one that of a young man of about twenty years of age, and one that of a child.

Four of the skulls appear to be those of males, and six those of women. The skull of the child is not sufficiently developed to indicate its sex. The male skulls are all of a round formbroad in proportion to the antero-posterior length, and resemble one another in general appearance. Of the females, five correspond in form to the male skulls, in being short and broad, but the sixth differs markedly from the others, in being narrow antero-posteriorly in proportion to its breadth. The form of the child's cranium resembles closely that of this last skull. The cranium of the child has been excluded from the various measurements and averages given in the subjoined table, now to be discussed, but that of the young man is included, as I was unwilling to diminish the series by rejecting it, especially as it seems to have attained its full development, except in a few respects which will be noted, though I am aware that it is contrary to custom to include any skull in which the basilar suture is not united. The male and female round skulls are separated from one another, and the latter are grouped apart from the long narrow female skull, many of the characters of which are entirely different from those of the other females.

Capacity. The average cranial capacity of the four male skulls, measured with shot according to Broca's method,is 1,607 cc., or 47 cc. more than that of male European skulls, the average capacity of 347 of which Topinard found to be 1,560 cc. That of the round-headed females is 1,311 cc., or 64 cc. less than European females skulls, 232 of which, measured by Topinard, averaged 1,375 cc. While the capacity, therefore, of the male skulls from Timor-laut is, on an average, larger than those of European, that of the females is less than in Europeans of the same sex. The difference in capacity between males and females of Timor-laut is 296 cc.; that between Europeans is 185 cc.

The individual range of capacity is considerable, one of the male skulls (No. 10) being no less than 220 cc. smaller than any of the others. The largest capacity, that of No. 4, is 1,780 cc., and the smallest 1,395 cc., that of No. 10. In the females the capacity ranges from 1,405 to 1,240 cc. The difference, then, between the largest and smallest male skulls is 385 cc., and 155 cc. between those of females. The long-headed female has a capacity of 1,400 cc.

Cephalic Index.-In the round skulls the relative proportion of the breadth to the length varies little in the two sexes; the cephalic index of the males averaging 881, and of the females 860. Reference to the table will show that the lower index of the females is chiefly caused by the almost undeformed cranium, No. 2, which has an index of only 78.9. All these skulls belong to Broca's class of true brachycephalic (skulls in which the cephalic index is over 83.33) except No. 2, which is sub-brachycephalic (between 80-01 and 83:33), on account of its width being less than, while the length is the same as, that of the others. The long narrow female skull has an index of 71.1, and belongs, therefore, to Broca's true dolichocephalic group.

Height Index--This averages about 2 higher in the male brachycephalic skulls than in the corresponding females, being 80.6 in the former, and 82-4 in the latter. The cephalic index of the males we found was higher by the same amount than that of the females. In the dolichocephalic female the height index is much lower than in the brachycephalic skulls of the same sex, a condition which the late Professor Rolleston found usually to obtain. The height of the skulls is in all instances less than the breadth, except in the female No. 2. The indices of height and breadth above given cannot be taken as strictly accurate, owing to the artificial flattening of the posterior or postero-lateral portion of most of the crania, but are as nearly accurate as circumstances will admit, and general deductions may probably be relied upon.

The height in proportion to the breadth (the latter being taken as 100) is in the males as 912, and in the females as 95.6 to 100.

Circumference. The horizontal circumference of the brachycephalic skulls averages in the males 507 mm., that of the females 475 mm., while the transverse vertical circumference of the former is 456 mm., and of the latter 424-6 mm. The total longitudinal circumference averages in the males 501-2 mm., and in the females 473 mm. In each of the three circumference measurements, therefore, the female skulls are on an average about 31 mm. smaller than the males. The dolichocephalic female shows considerable differences in the various circumferences from the previous skulls of the same sex. Its horizontal and