Chapter XXXVI: Munsee Crania: Depression of Petrous Portions

------------------------+--------------+--------------
| 7 males | 12 females
+-----+--------+-----+--------
|Cases|Per cent|Cases|Per cent
------------------------+-----+--------+-----+--------
Medium (about as average| | | |
in whites) | 2 | 29 | — | —
Submedium | 3 | 43 | 7 | 58
None or almost none | 2 | 29 | 5 | 42
------------------------+-----+--------+-----+--------

_Pterygo-basal foramina. Posterior condylic foramina._—Interesting features of the base of the skull, to which Gruber and (in this country) Harrison Allen have called attention, are the foramina found occasionally at the base (or proximal part) of the external pterygoid plates. These foramina are seldom complete. They may be single, double, or even triple. They are formed by a process or by processes of bone which proceed upward and backward, and in some cases more or less outward, from the border of the external pterygoid plate. According to the insertion of these processes, the foramina to which they give rise can be divided into two classes, namely, the more frequent pterygo-spinous and the rarer pterygo-sphenoidal.

Their significance is not yet so clearly understood as is desirable. They are of some anthropological interest and occur quite frequently among Indians, especially in certain localities. Among the Munsee they were rather scarce, particularly in the females.