Page:The American Journal of Science, series 4, volume 1.djvu/518

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480
Marsh—On the Pithecanthropus erectus,

A figure of the present specimen and the skull of a Gibbon for comparison are shown in figure 2, Plate XIII. These figures and those that follow are reproduced from illustrations in Dr. Dubois's memoirs.

In comparing the cranium of Pithecanthropus with skulls most nearly allied, both human and simian, the outlines given in figure 3, below, will prove especially instructive. The basis of this cut is the figure given by Dr. Dubois in his Leyden paper. This I have modified by omitting the outline of the microcephalic idiot, and substituting that of the well-known Neanderthal skull.[1]

3.

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Figure 3.—Profile outline of the skull of Pithecanthropus (Pe), compared with those of a Papuan man, the man of Spy No. 1, Neanderthal man (Nt), man of Spy No. 2, and Hylobates leuciscus (Hl), Semnopithecus maurus (Sm), and Anthropopithecus troglodytes (At). (Modified from a figure by Dubois.)
Gl, glabella; Op, opisthion; Jn, linea nuchæ superior; Lni, linea nuchæ inferior.

Dr. Dubois's conception of the skull of Pithecanthropus, when entire, is indicated by his attempted restoration shown in figure 6, on page 481. Future discoveries must determine the accuracy of this restoration.

  1. In presetting the present paper before the National Academy of Sciences at Washington. I was fortunately able to exhibit a cast of the Pithecanthropus skull, recently sent to me by Dr. Dubois, and also to compare this with a cast of the Neanderthal skull. The latter was not available during the discussion at Leyden.