Steatopygia has been noticed among various black and Negröid populations. It was very noticeable in a queen of Poun, figured upon the Egyptian temple built by M. Mariette, for the Exhibition of 1867. Livingstone assured us that it had begun to manifest itself among certain women of the Boers, who are nevertheless of a quite pure white race. But nowhere is it so pronounced as among the Bosjesman women, and it constitutes one of the most striking characters of the race. It is not exactly the same with “_tablier_,” resulting from the exaggerated development of the labia minora, which project out of the vulva and hang down in front of the thighs. This feature is found more or less developed in a number of races, and has given rise to the practice of circumcision among women. In Europe there is doubtless scarcely an accoucheur who has not noticed it on some occasion in some perfectly pure Whites. Nevertheless it seems that among the Bosjesman women it sometimes reaches a development which is not noticed elsewhere. In the Hottentot Venus, of which the Paris Museum possesses a model, the length from the right reaches 55 millimetres (2·16 inches), and from the left 61 millimetres (2·4 inches); the breadth is 34 millimetres (1·33 inch) from the right, and from the left 32 millimetres (1·26 inch). The thickness, which is uniform, is 15 millimetres (·58 inch). CHAPTER XXX. ANATOMICAL CHARACTERS. I. _Osteological characters._—Without denying the very great value of external characters, I agree with almost all anthropologists, in attaching a greater importance to anatomical characters _in the majority of cases_. Unfortunately, the comparative anatomy of human races has, as yet, made but little progress. The fact is, that the solid portions, the skeleton alone, have, necessarily, been the subject of serious examination. The study of the perishable portion has scarcely been begun. For this, and several other reasons, I shall distinguish these two orders of facts, and discuss separately our knowledge of _osteological characters_ and _organic characters_. The skeleton, the framework of the body, presents the same regions as the latter: we can distinguish the head, the trunk, and the extremities. Each of these regions offers peculiarities more or less connected with the diversity of human groups. The best studied, and fortunately the most important, are furnished by the head. For some years craniological collections have been singularly on the increase; and throughout Europe, the study has been entered upon with equal ardour. Craniometrical methods and instruments have multiplied, perhaps a little beyond the actual need. MM. Vogt and Topinard have made an excellent summary of this mass of research. I can only refer to their publications. I cannot here even reproduce all the results already acquired, and must confine myself to pointing out a few of the principal ones.