obliterated ; frontal bone slightly keel-shaped in the line of the frontal suture ; glabella, supraorbital ridges, and occipital protuberance strikingly prominent ; cranial vault depressed, and on section (antero-posterior) shows an arch intermediate between that of the anthropoid apes and of the average European man. Its general dimensions may be thus stated :—
FIG. 63. Femur of Pithecanthropus erectus,
found in Java (¼).
(After Dr Dubois.)
|
Antero-posterior diameter (max.) |
185 |
mm. |
|
Teeth.— As to the two molar teeth, there is so much difference of opinion among specialists some considering them simian and others human that it is unnecessary to add any further proof of their intermediate character. In Manouvrier's estimation the third molar has a decidedly simian character as regards the size of the fangs, but human as regards the crown surface. (Bull. Soc. d'Anth. de Paris, vol. vi., 4th series, p. 18.)
The Femur.— The femur (Fig. 63) has been regarded by most of the anatomists who have critically examined it as human Professor Virchow being almost alone in maintaining that it might have belonged to an ape, probably Hylobates. Dr Dubois, however, lays stress on three minor characters which he thinks differentiate it from the typical human femur.
But these distinctions have been conclusively shown to be untenable, as they have been found on recent human femora with sufficient frequency to be ranked as human characters (see Manouvrier, loc. cit., p. 15). Its length, from the highest point of the head to a line between the lowest points of the condyles, is 455 millimetres. The bone has suffered little injury, but it presents, on the inner and back part of the upper
