Chapter LXIV: Munsee: Shape of Ribs

--------+----------+----------+----------+---------
| | Type | Type | Type
| Subjects | 1 or | 2 or | 3 or
| | near 1 | near 2 | near 3
--------+----------+----------+----------+---------
| |_Per cent_|_Per cent_|_Per cent_
Males | (10) | 70 | 20 | 10
Females | (12) | 75 | 25 | —
--------+----------+----------+----------+---------

The biangular form, which is fairly frequent in whites, is nearly absent in the Munsee, the one pair in the males presenting merely an approach to the form.

SPINE

The entire number of vertebræ of 21 skeletons has been preserved, thus affording an excellent opportunity for studying the numerical relations of the bones, as well as other particulars.

The bones are entirely normal, with the exception of the frequent slightly to moderately developed marginal exostoses (which, unless premature or excessive, the author regards more and more as the usual manifestations of age rather than of disease), and one case of advanced spondylitis deformans, resulting in fusion of the lower half of the spine and the sacrum. The bones show moderate to medium development and are free from gross anomalies.

As to numbers, the cervical vertebræ show but one exception to the normal—namely, in male skeleton no. 285,326, in which only six vertebræ are present in this region. The locus of the (congenitally) missing one is between the third and the sixth, its exact identity being difficult to determine. In one of the females (no. 285,311) the seventh cervical, as already mentioned, gives attachment on the right to a well developed cervical rib (pl. 25, _a_).

The vertebræ of the dorsal region are also normal in number in all cases but one, which has been mentioned in connection with the ribs; it is no. 285,321, female, and presents a congenital absence of the twelfth vertebra.

The numbers of the lumbar vertebræ show frequent variation. In two of the ten males and two of the eleven females there are but four lumbars, while in one female there are six. In detail we find the following abnormalities:

In male skeleton no. 285,316, the fifth lumbar shows a transitional, sacral form, though not attached to the sacrum, and it also presents a detachment of the posterior part of its neural arch.

In male no. 285,326, one of the lumbar vertebræ between the second and fifth is absent congenitally.

In female no. 285,310, one of the lumbar vertebræ is missing congenitally; the last lumbar in this case is in form like the fifth; the upper segment of the sacrum is somewhat lumbar-like, but the bone possesses only five segments and a normal curvature.

In female no. 285,311, with four lumbar vertebræ, the fifth, somewhat modified, is attached to the sacrum (pl. 27).

In female no. 285,326, where we have six lumbar vertebræ, the last, like the lowest lumbar in male no. 285,316, shows a separation of the posterior portion of the neural arch.

In male no. 285,308, the twelfth dorsal and the first lumbar show complete and evidently early non-pathological fusion.

_a_ MALE MUNSEE SACRUM SHOWING BILATERAL ARTICULATION WITH AN EXTRA SEGMENT INTRODUCED BETWEEN THE LAST LUMBAR AND THE SACRUM]

SACRUM

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND MEASUREMENTS

The total number of serviceable specimens of sacra is 17, only 13 of which, however (six males and seven females), are five-segment bones and sufficiently well preserved to afford the necessary measurements. The results show that, as usual, the male sacrum, while in breadth nearly equal to that of the female, is perceptibly higher, in consequence of which the sacral index, or percental relation of breadth to height, is lower in the males.

A comparison of the Munsee sacra with those of other Indians and United States whites shows marked agreement both in size and in the relative proportions of the bone in the males, but less in the females. As will be seen by the next table, the Munsee female sacrum is somewhat lower than that of any of the other series.[79]

[79] The sacra from the Arkansas and Louisiana mounds, of which a small series was reported previously by the writer (_Remains from Arkansas and Louisiana_, op. cit.), appeared unusually high; in the much larger series here presented, however, they are seen to form no exception in this respect to those of other Indians.