vulgaris. Claytonia Arctica, var. megarhizo, with large tufts of broad, fleshy leaves, grows on some very barren summits among the rocks, and by the freshness of its appearance in such a place, away above the range of the most dwarfed of high-alpine plants, almost astonishes you. The flowers are quite similar to those of Claytonia Virginica, and the whole plant is rather fine looking. It has a marvellously large fleshy root, from which it was named by Dr. Parry, C. megarhiza. A little, yellow-rayed composite. with heads of flowers scarcely raised above the surface of the rocky ground, is Aplopappus pygmæus; a pygmy indeed in contrast with some of its kindred species of the lower mountains and of the plains. 4. Lyallii is another very dwarf, high-alpine species less frequently met with.

Talinum pygmæum is a fine little dwarf, looking very like a Claytonia, but producing among its tufts of narrow fleshy leaves numerous very bright purple flowers.

There remain yet many of these Alpine flowers well worth notice; but we are now far above the "music of the pines," looking downward over many a silvery lake, and over many a wide-extended field of dazzling snow. Eastward lies the blue line of distant plains, and near us in the west are piled range on range of snow-streaked, rocky Mountains. The flowers that bloom at our feet we shall forget a moment, and enjoy the wondrous grandeur of this sublime landscape into which our botanizing has so delightfully led us.

CERTAIN PECULIARITIES IN THE CRANIA OF
THE MOUND-BUILDERS.

BY J. W. FOSTER, LL. D.

THE "Kennicott Mound," near Chicago, yielded three frontal bones- the only parts of the skeletons capable of preservation

* An abstract of a paper read before the Dubuque Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Aug., 1872.

After giving an account of the several skulls that he had examined from mounds in Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, with a comparison of them with various other skulls, illustrated by a number of drawings, Dr. Foster gives his conclusions regarding the distinctive characters of the crania of the mound-building race, which we quote entire, preceded by a copy of a drawing of the singular skull from the "Kennicott Mound," and his remarks upon it. We regret that we are unable to print the paper in full, but we trust that it will soon appear in the volume of the Proceedings of the meeting. -EDS.

which were also indicative of a low type. In two instances there was a rapid narrowing in the temporal region; the plates were extraordinarily thick; the superciliary ridges were massive, standing out like ropes; the orbital processes were profoundly notched; and the frontal bone was much prolonged towards the coronal suture. Figure 148, reduced one-half, represents one of these bones. No one, I think, can view this fragment of a skull with its superciliary ridges projecting far beyond the general contour both laterally and in front, and the low flat forehead with its thick, bony walls, without coming to the conclusion that its possessor was a ferocious brute. The prize-fighter of this day might envy such a frontispiece, adapted to withstand any degree of pommelling, or almost even to turn a musket ball.

Fig. 148.
b

the negro or Euro

pean. They belong in

Chicago. a, a, Superciliary ridges.

one respect to what Frontal portion of a Skull from "Kennicott's Mound," near Dr. Pritchard calls the Pyramidal type, but in other respects they present characters which are sui generis. The pyramidal form, seen in cross section, arises from the peculiar conformation of the malar bones, giving an outward sweep to the zygomatic arches.

I append a synopsis of what I regard as the distinctive characters of the Mound-builder's skull, selecting for the purpose the one represented by Fig. 149, which belongs to neither the lowest nor the highest forms; and that the reader may compare these peculiarities with those of the idiot as given by Humphry, I shall, as far as convenient, follow his order of description. It is to be regretted that in all my specimens, with a single exception, the facial bones are wanting.

In examining this skull in its general outlines the observer is struck by the scantiness of brain capacity, seen in the narrow forehead, the receding frontal bone, and a similar recession in the region of the lambdoidal suture, which give to the vertex an undue prominence, and to the longitudinal are an outline approaching in form a Gothic arch.

That portion of the occipital bone behind the foramen magnum,

instead of being continued in a straight line, as in the well-developed European skull, curves up to the occipital crest. The occipital condyles are small, and "the basilar portion of the occipital bone ascends with unusual obliquity from them." "The foramen magnum and the other foramina for nerves at the base are comparatively large; the foramina for vessels as well as the grooves for the sinuses are, on the other hand, comparatively

The post-glenoid process, as in the negro, is strongly marked. The occipital crest is highly ridged, and arched convexly like the figure, and the point where these arches intersect

forms the extremity of the skull. The temporal fossæ are deep and the temporal ridge is prominent. The apex is about midway between the coronal and lambdoidal suture. The parietal plates instead of swelling into a rounded outline, are flattened. The suture connecting the squamous bone with the parietal is less convex than in the European, and in this respect approaches that of the chimpanzee and the lower animals, which is nearly straight. The superciliary ridges are strongly marked and project beyond the general contour of the brain case, and the glabella forms the extreme point of the anterior portion of the skull. The orbits, where bounded by the superciliary ridges and the nasal septum, owing to the deep supraorbital notch, are of a quadrangular shape. The frontal eminences are very slight, which make the superciliary ridges more conspicuous, and the forehead more retreating. The zygomatic arches swell out beyond the parietal walls, which in the European skull so far overhang as to conceal them in the vertical view. From this point of observation it may be said that all the exterior prominences are visible, -the occipital protuberance, the zygomatic arches, and the superciliary ridges.

The frontal bone is of great strength and slopes backward, encroaching on the parietals and giving origin to a low forehead. In the lower animals this bone becomes nearly horizontal and is placed behind the eyes. "In proportion," says Humphry, "as the cranial portion slopes backward, so do its facial buttresses the nasal and angular processes - slant forwards; and in proportion as the brain is well developed and the cranial part of the bone is upright, so are the facial processes directed perpendicularly downwards. In the lower animals for instance, they grow directly forwards, in the lower races of mankind they grow downwards and forwards, and in the best formed human skulls they grow almost vertically downwards."

Such are the characters which seem to predominate in the mound-builders' skulls,-characters which distinguish them from the negro on the one hand and the Teuton on the other. Individual variations occur, as might be expected, for we are not to suppose that all have been cast in a single mould. All the specimens indicate a low intellectual organization little removed from that of the idiot.

On comparing the figure with a European skull, these anatomical traits will be apparent by contrast; particularly the increased

development of the frontal and parietal regions, the outward curving of the occiput, the horizontality of the line between the occipital ridge and the foramen magnum, and the convexity of the squamosal suture.

It is the preponderance of the brain case over the facial portion of the head that gives to man his superiority as compared with the lower animals; and we estimate the intellectuality and capacity for improvement in the several races of men by the same standard. The skull in size and outline has a general conformity to the enclosed brain. The bony walls take their shape from the nervous tissue, as the shell of the oyster is shaped to accommodate its living tenant. The brain is undoubtedly the seat of mental activity; and, without endorsing phrenology in all its details, we may affirm that a particular form of skull is indicative of particular traits of character. We place the seat of the intellectual faculties in the anterior lobe; of the propensities which link us to the brute in the middle lobe; and of those which appertain to the social affections in the posterior lobe. The predominance of any one of these divisions in a people would stamp them as either eminently intellectual, or eminently cruel, or eminently social. The mound-builders, assuming these skulls to be typical, were doubtless neither eminent for great virtues nor great vices, but were a mild, inoffensive race, who would fall an easy prey to a crafty and cruel foe. Under the guidance of a superior mind, we can imagine that they would be content to toil, without weighing deliberately the nature or amount of the reward. Like the Chinese they could probably imitate, but not invent; and, secure from the irruption of enemies they would, in time, develop a rude civilization.

The Indian possesses a conformation of skull which clearly separates him from the prehistoric mound-builder. And such a conformation must give rise to different mental traits. His brain as compared with the European, according to George Combe, differs widely in the proportions of the different parts. The anterior lobe is small, the middle lobe large, and the central convolutions on the anterior lobe and upper surface are small. The brain case is box-like with the corners rounded off; the occiput extends up vertically; the frontal ridge is prominent; the cerebral vault is pyramidal; the interparietal diameter is great; the superciliary ridges and zygomatic arches sweep out beyond the gen