The height is above the general average for a woman, which, according to Topinard, is 1.53.
The petro-basilar fissures are large and visibly pervious. This condition is found occasionally; significance doubtful; it is more frequent in young subjects.
Platycnemic tibiæ—This is considered a simian character.[247] It was found first by Broca in 1868[248] on bones from Eyzies; it is associated with relative strength of the muscles of the leg; is very frequent among the characters found on bones from the epoch of polished stone in Europe.[249] J. Wyman found this character more accentuated than at Cro-Magnon or at Gibraltar on a third of the tibias from the mounds of the United States.[249]
Perforated humerus—Noticed first by Desmoulins, 1826, on the humeri of Guanches and Hottentots;[250] occurs with greatest frequency in the following peoples:[251]
| Per cent. | |
| 156 neolithic humeri from around Paris | 21.8 |
| 97 humeri of African negroes | 21.7 |
| 122 humeri of Guanches | 25.6 |
| 80 humeri from the mounds of United States (J. Wyman) | 31.2 |
| 32 humeri of Polynesians | 34.3 |
| 30 humeri of altaic and American races | 36.2 |
Summarily, Dr Hrdlička’s special determinations conform with the external observations on the Seri body; they indicate an exceptionally large stature, together with a notably well-developed and well-proportioned osseous framework, of the native American type, yet significantly approaching the Caucasian in several respects. It is especially noteworthy that the cranium is well formed and capacious, the precise measurements corroborating the external observation that the Seri head is of good absolute size, though relatively smaller (in comparison with height and weight) than that of some neighboring tribes of less stature—e. g., the Papago. It may be noted, too, that the imperfect ankylosis of the epiphyses, and various other skeletal features, are in accord with the inferences from the living body as to the slowness of attaining maturity. It may be noted further that the extraordinary development of the muscular attachments, especially in the masculine cranium, is quite in harmony with the habits of the tribe.
The remaining somatic characteristics of the Seri are for the greater part of such sort as to be described by generalities and negatives. In general they correspond with those of typical American tribesmen and other peoples; and they do not exhibit striking peculiarities in proportion or structure. In the opposability of the thumb, the nonopposability of the hallux, and the independence of fingers and toes, the Seri hands and feet are developed quite up to, if not somewhat beyond, the Amerindian[252] average; the feet are set straight in walking, as befits the pedestrian habit; the arms are not elongated, and the thighs seem no longer in proportion to other elements of the stature than are those of the highest human types. In like manner the bodies are notably free from artificial deformation; the skulls are not flattened or otherwise distorted; there is no scarification, or even tattooing; neither ears nor lips are pierced for pendants or labrets; the teeth are not filed or drilled, though in some cases at least the first incisors of females are extracted; and while there are trustworthy records of the piercing of the nasal septum for the insertion of pendants, no examples were found at Costa Rica in 1894. The food habits and other customs of the tribe indicate, or at least suggest, more or less specialized and perhaps distinctive internal characters; but, without actual examination of the organs, these inferred characters demand little more than passing notice.
On reviewing the more prominent somatic characters of the Seri, it is found that the greater number are either functional or presumptively correlated with function, and that only a few—chiefly stature and color—are simply structural; accordingly a comparison of the peculiar somatic features and the peculiar individual habits of the tribe would seem to be instructive in more than ordinary degree.