Abstract
SUMMARY Data for the cranial capacities and for the dimensions of the foramen magnum have been derived from 198 chimpanzees, 223 gorillas, 69 orang‐utans and 575 men at various stages of development. The pattern of endocranial growth in the extant apes is similar to that in man. The age changes in the foramen magnum follow those in the endocranial cavity–some 95 per cent of adult size being reached by the time the first permanent molars are in place. Comparison between these new data and the stated endocranial volumes of the Australopithecinae confirms that in this feature the South African fossils are ape‐like. The cranial capacity and the area of the foramen magnum are sufficiently closely correlated to enable the one to be predicted from the other. The relationship between the area of the foramen magnum and the cranial capacity of the Australopithecinae was apparently similar to that in extant apes and an estimate is made on this basis of the endocranial volume of an immature specimen of Paranthropus crassidens (SK 47) of which the skull base only is preserved.
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