RUARY 7, 1925] NATUR: : 195 Australopithceus africanus: The Man-Ape of South Africa, iy Pro, Ravwonp A. Darr, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Arica “TOWARDS the close of 1y24, Miss. Josephine » land, for these discoveries lend promise to the expecta ilmumey Student sdemonsteator of anatomy in | tion that a tolerahly complete story of higher primate the Unnenty of the Witwatcrsrand, Brought to noe | evehation in Africa will yet be wrested from ovr rocks {he JowsseP Skull of a-cercopitheral’ monkey which, | In manipulating the pieces of rock brought back by UMougbeer insteamentalitye was very. generously | Prof, Young, I found that the larger natural endo: inane to the Department for desenption by its ownet, | cranial cast articulated exactly by its fractured frontal MnO. oad, cf the Rand Mines Limited. learned | extremity with another piece of rock in which the dhe thie valuable fossil had een blasted out of the | broken lower and posterior margin of the left side of @ istone ill rmation—ava vertical depth of jo leet | mandtble was visible. Alter cleaning the rock mass, fina hwontal depth of 200 feet—at Taungs, which | the outline of the hinder and lower part of the facial iis So mules north of Kimberley on the main line to | skeleton came into view. Careful development of the Rhodeoa in echyaraland by operatives. ofthe | said. limestone in which it was. embelded finally Northern, Line Company. “impertant stratigraphical | revealed the almost entie face depicted in the accom- tvidence has een fortheoming recently from thes dis: | panying photographs Cri concerning the suctession of stone ages in South | © Te wastpparent when the larger endocranial cast was Stree (Nevile Jones, Jonr Roy. Anthrop. inst, 1920), | Btst abserved that it was specially important, for its ind the lecling wn titertained that this ime deposit, | sioe and sulcal pattern revealed Sufheient.siilarity iike shat ol Broken Ill in Rhodesia, might contalt | with those of the chimpanzee and gonilla to demonstrate fossil remains of primitive man. that one was handling in this instance an anthropoid T immediately ronsulted Dr RB, Young, professor | and not a cercopithecid ape: Fossil anthropoids have of quclozy in the University of the Witwaterstand, | not hitherto been recorded south of the Fayim in "Joout'the ecovery, and | Egypt, and ving nthropoids bave not been discovered eon forunate ‘con. | intecent times snth of Lake Kivi region Belgian ‘Mente, wae called down | Congo, nearly 2000 miles to the north, a8 the crow fo Taungs almost syn | fen Sronousy to investigate | AML fossil aothropoids found hitherto have been alugially the lime’ de. | known ooly (rom mandibular or mailer fragments, fonttofanadjcentiagm, |fo-lar sv cranin are conceroed, and 20" the 2eneal Fronts it toTaungs, | appearance ofthe types they represented. hasbeen Past Stang nas ena | unknown ; consequent, a codon of afar where throogh the courtesy ef | sirtuay the whole face and Tower jw, Tepete with ee, OF Campbell | teeth, together with the major portion ofthe brain uber manager ofthe | pattern, have been preserved constitutes 4 specmen of Kunchern Lime Company, | unusual value in fos! anthropoid discovery. Here, te ange the ste a Re | as in Home rhodesienis, Southern Alien has provided Aiscoulry" ama to ‘select | documento higher pinta evolution tha are amongst ferther samples ‘of fossil | themowe compete extant trateraJor'me ism the | “Apart inom this evidential completeness, the speci te agi aig of usa ne formation These | met is of importance becuse i exhibits an extinct Pcrinatieennsae "Included a natural cer- | race of apes intermediate betseeen living anthrepoids and fopitecid"endocrania | on cast, & seiund and eger ate, and tome Took | "In the fist place, the whole cranivm displays feedincnts Shek poruons of lone, Tinall, Dec | humanoid aatherthaa antheopoid fneament. Us USktin'D. Laing senibe lecturer in anatomy obtained | maskedly dolichocephali and eptoprosop, and sani tee est Ie hiend Ate Kidey Hendry of another | fests in a-staking degree the baronies relation of priate skull fom the same cif) "Ths cecopitheed or tae emphasised by Proner Bey.” As tthe pmmscnm of Ale De Wet, ofthe Langgte | Topinard says) A cranium elongated Irom belore inc and has a heen iberaly sitroted ym to | Uacewards and atthe same sine sevated fe aleady the Pertinent fr seen investigation in harmony by itsell; but ithe lace, 08 the other ‘The esupitheld imams placel at or disposal | han, elongated trom above dornward and narrows, seainy repent mote than one species of eatarthine | the Harmony. is complete” T have astesed roughly Sheth savery of Ceenpithedese mths ayea te | the diferente inthe relationship. of ue slabella wee ginth eT dave teen informed that Mee & | anathio facial Tength to the glaeli ion ealvarial Feivettan Bin the pres paper discussing at feast | length fy recent Atsiean anthropos of am age com he pete ol baba Irom “iki caine spot (Royal | parable with that ofthis specimen (depicted in Duck Serie nt Shah Alara) Tol importance tint, | words "Anthropology and. Morphology second Dunes cd ae taaeate Fava ect prenate epost | eitions vol ican fd that, tbe aabellcanine rec itn the Abts Otway | sti regsrdd i all nce to, then the gabe {itunes Heck Areaneictt der Gee Naturforsch | ssuthion leneti in the Yoong himparace 3 appro Frrwde oj ot the shenesel Victoria Nyanaa (C. W, | mate 88, an the young gorilla 80, and inthis lows 7, Auivens oh tine Mar soyOLandin ectuana. | shiwh proportion suitably demonstrates the eahanerd xo. 2884, vor a]Ne ship of cotrbral Tengthy 0 Facial Tength in the 2) fossil ( The glabella is tolerably pronounced, bust any traces fof the salient supea-orbital ridges, which are present ‘even in ammatare living anthropoids, are here entirely Thy ‘urement is due to brain and not to bone. Allow if 4mm, for the bone thickness in the inion region, that measurement in the fossil = #27 mim: 1. 4-mm. Jess than the same measurement in an adult chimpanzee in the Anatomy Museum at the University of the Witwaterstand. ‘The orbits are not in any sense de- tached! froin the forehead, which rises steadily from their margins i) a fashion amazingly human. ‘The inter fovbital width is very small (13 mm.) and the ethmoids are not blown out laterally’ as in modem African anthropoids. This lack of ethmoidal expansion causes the lacrimal fossie to face posteriorly and to lie rela tively far back in the orbits, as in man. The orbits, instead of being subquadrate as in anthropoids, are almost cireular, furnishing an’ orbital index of 100, ‘which is well within the range of human variation (Topinard, “ Anthropology”). ‘The malas, zygomatic hes, maxille, and mandible all betray a delicate and yumnanoid character. ‘The facial prognathism is rela- tively shit, the gnathie index of Flower sivine a value of 169, which is scarcely greater than that of certain Bushmen (Strandioopers) examined by Shrubsall. The nasil bones are not prolonged below the level of the lower orbital masgins, as in anthropeids, but end above these, a& in man, and are incompletely fused together iv their lower hail. Theie maximum length (17 men.) is not so great as that of the nasals in Foanthropus ducesonz. "They ate depressed in the median Tine, as im the clumpanzee, in’ their lower half, but it seems proluble that this depression has accarred post-mortem for the upper half of each bone is arched forwards The nasal aperture is small and is just wider There is no nasal (Fig. thar i is high (47 mm. 316 mm.) spine, the floor of the nasal ca ‘he anterior aspect rmanille, after the fashion of the chimpanzee and of certain New Caledonians and negroes (Topinard, toe ait) In the sevond place, the dentition is humanoid rather than anthrepoid. ‘The specimen is juvenile, for the : og Ga ( a fest rman sitar cath only has erptd in br jaws on bath sides of the laces rest coneepond natomnivally with « aman sbi of six years of age Otsesvtions upon the milk dentition of living primates ae fe, and only ome molar tooth of the deciduous ‘Hentiton in one fst antheopoid is known (Gresors * The Orin sind Evoltion of the Haman Dentin? fo) Hece the data for the necesary compares Inot cerca stoking featanes of the il NO. 2884, voL. 115] TUR the relatively snereased glabella inion { [Fenrvary 7, 1925 ontiton of this creature may be mentioned. ‘The tips ofthe canine teeth “transgiess very slightly "75 min) the general wargin of the teeth in each yaw, fe very little more than does the human ilk anine, There i= no diastema whatever between the Dremalars and canines on either side of the lower ja, och as iz present in the deciduous dentition of living Anthropoids ; but the canines in this jaw come, as Inthe human jv fnto alignment with the incisors Gregory, lor er) ‘There is a dias tema (2 min. on the right sie, and 3 mm. on the leit Side) between the canincsand lateral incisors ol the upper jaw; but seeing, first, that the incisors are narrow, and, se sndly, hat daste mata (mine's mim) oeeur hetween the central incisnrs of the upper jaw and between the meal and Iateral incisors of both sides in the loseer jaw, and, thirdly, that some separation of the milk tceth tales place even in man kind (Fpmes, “Dental Anatomy,” seventh edition) dating the establishment of the permanent dentition, ic is evident that the diasteraata which occa in the upper juve are small. ‘The lower canines, nevertheless, show wearing Iacets both for the upper canines and for the upper literal incisors The ineiors as a group ave ineyolar in see, tend to overlap one another, and. are almnost vertical, a8 in tman "hey are not symmetrical and well spaced, and dio not project lorwards. markedly, as in anthnopoids “The upper lateral incisors da project forwards t0 some extent and perhaps alzo’do the upper central incisors very slightly, ut the lateral lower incisors beray no evidence of forward projection, and. the central lower inciors. ate mot, even vertical asin mast races of manland, but are directed slightly back wards. as sometimer ecurs in man. Owing 10 these | remarkably human characters displayed by the de- Ciduous dentition, when contour tracings of the upper jaw are made, iis found that the ja and the teeth, 3 a whole, iake up a. parabolic arrangement ‘com parable only with that presented by mankind amongst the higher primates. These facts, together with the more minute anatomy of the teeth, will be strated And discussed in the memoir which in the process of Glaboration concerning the fosil remain. Tn the thind place, the mandible itsell is Aunnanotd rather than anthropeid. Its rams fs, on the whole, stort and stender as compared with that of authropois. tut the bone iteelf is more massive than Wat of & Ihaman being of the same age. Its esmphyseal region is virtually complete and reveals anteriorly more ertcal outline than ie fours sn anthropoids or even inthe jaw of Pilidown man, The anterior symphyseat surlace i searcly lese vertical than that w! Heielber tan. The posterior symphyseal”surlace. in. livingFenuary 7, 1925] senthopwids diiless feom that af modeen man in possess: ing, # pronounced posterior prolongation of the lower border, which joins together the. two halves of the manshble, and so forms the well-known simian shelf tind above it deep genial impression for the attach- ment of the tongue musculature. In this character, Hoanthropus dawsoni searcely diflers from the anthro: poids. «specially the chimpanzee; but this new fossil be trays ne evidence of such a shelf, the lower border of the mandible having been mass ive and rounded after the fashion of the mandible of Homo hetdelbergensis. That hominid! characters were not restricted to the face in this extinct primate onp is borne out by the lauvely forward situation fof the Toramen magnur, ‘The position of the basion ean be assessed within a few millimetres. of error, heeause a portion of “the right exoceipital is present alongside the cast of the basal aspect of the cere 1 ain bellum. Its position is such Riklsue "that the basi prosthion measurement is 89 mm., while the bssi-inion measusement isat least 54mm. This Felationship may be expressed in the form ef 4" head balancing index el Gory. The same nes in baboon providen'a vale of qr, in an adult chimpanzee gory a dlichoceph su secs Fata 0 the poise of thr skull upon the vereebral column, pnts to the assumption hy this fossil group of an Auutude appreciably more erect than that of movkrn anthrojeds. The improved poise of the head, and the eter posture atthe. whole body” framevark ‘hich accompanied this alteration inthe angle at Shih its dominant member was supported, of great Signitiance. Te means that a greater reliance was feng placed iy this group upon the fet as organs of Iotesin, ant thatthe hantle weve being fred fen ther more prnitive function of accessory angans. Iocomation." Kipedal animale thir hands were assy “U bisher evolutionary role not only as delicate vo. examining organs which were adding copiously to the animal's knowledge of its physical enviyenment, bot alco as instouments of the growing intelligence caresing ont more elaborate. puepostul, and skilled Inoveinents, and as organs of offence and. defence ‘The inc temered the more probable, in view, fst ‘of th failire to develop massive canines and eons in Rhodesian man 83°75 909, features, and, secondly, of the fet that even living hhaboons! and anthropotd apes ean and da use sticks aan stones ay implements and as weapons of offence Descent at Natl on of the ende erammal cast which was responsible for Uhe discovery ef the lace. The cast comprises. the tight cerehral and corebwliar hemispheres (hath of which forts median line thoushowt their entire d 2884, vot. 115] 1." p. 81 et 307). there remains conside NATURE 197 length) and the anterior portion of the leit cerebral hemisphere. ‘The remainder of the cranial. cavity seems to have been empty, for the let face of the east Js clothed with # picturesque Lime erystal deposit; the vacuity in the left hall of the ceanal cavity was probably” esponsible for the tagmentation of the Specimen during the blasting. The cranial capacity of the specimen may best be appreciated by the state ‘ment that the fength of the eavity could not have been tess than 114 tom, which is 3 mm. greater than that ‘of an adult chimpanzee in the Museum of the Anatomy Department in the liniversity of the Witwatersrand, and only 14 mm. less than the greatest length of the cast of the endocranium of a gor chosen for casting fon account of its great size. "Few data are available concerning the expansion of brain matter which takes place in the bing anthropoid brain between the time ‘f eruption of the frst permanent molars and the time of ther becoming adult. So far ax man is concerned, ‘Owen («Anatomy of Vertebrates,” vol. iis) tell ws that "The brain has advanced to near ite texm of size at about ten years, but ie does not ustally abtain its full development till between twenty and thirty syears of age.” R. Boyd (1860) discovered an increase Jn weight of nearly 250 grams in the brains of male Inman beings after they had reached the age of seven years. It is therefore reasonable to believe that the Adult forms typified by our present specimen possessed Irrains which were larger than that of this juvenile specimen, and equalled, if they did not. actually supersede, that of the gorilla in absolute size Whatever the total dimensions of the adult brain may have been, there are not lacking evidences that the brain in this group of fossil forms was distinctive in type and was an instrument of gteater inteligence that that of living anthrapoids, “The face of the cendocranial cast is searted fortunately in several phces (cross-hatched in the dioptographic. train sce Fig. §)- His evident that the relative proportion fof cerebral to cerebellar matter in this brain was giester than in the gorilla’s, The brain doesnot Show that general pre-and post-Rolandic flattening haraeveristic of the Jiving anthropaids, but presents a rounded and well filed-out contour, which points ta 4 syininetsieal and balanced development of the faculties of associative memory and intelligent activity, The pithecoid type of parallel suleus is preserved dhut the soleus lunatis has been thrast harkwards coward the oeipital pale by a pronunnced eeneral