The Descent of Man

many of the lower animals. It is remarkable
that this perforation seems to have been present
in man much more frequently during ancient
times than recently. Mr. Busk (51. "On the Caves
of Gibraltar," 'Transactions of the International
Congress of Prehistoric Archaeology,'
Third Session, 1869, p. 159. Prof. Wyman has
lately shewn (Fourth Annual Report, Peabody
Museum, 1871, p. 20), that this perforation is
present in thirty-one per cent. of some human
remains from ancient mounds in the Western
United States, and in Florida. It frequently occurs
in the negro.) has collected the following
evidence on this head: Prof. Broca "noticed the
perforation in four and a half per cent. of the
arm-bones collected in the 'Cimetiere du Sud,'
at Paris; and in the Grotto of Orrony, the contents
of which are referred to the Bronze period,
as many as eight humeri out of thirty-two
were perforated; but this extraordinary proportion,
he thinks, might be due to the cavern having
been a sort of 'family vault.' Again, M. Du-