III. The croonian lecture. - On the discovery, morphology, and environment of Sinanthropus pekinensis

During the interval which has elapsed since the subject-matter of this paper was presented in lecture form, a memoir has been completed by the Cenozoic Research Laboratory of the Geological Survey of China, on the subject of “ Fossil Man in China ” and ancillary problems of Cenozoic research in that area (Black and others, 1933). By reason of this fortunate circumstance it has become possible to incorporate in the present communication a resume of the chief geological, palaeontological, and archaeological conclusions to which we have been led as a result of the completion to its present stage of that wider study. It is a pleasure to acknowledge here my indebtedness to my friends and colleagues of the staff of the Cenozoic Research Laboratory, without whose cordial co-operation and assistance the present paper could not have been written. To my friends Dr. V. K. Ting, Honorary Director of Cenozoic Research in China, and Dr. Wong Wen Hao, Director of the Geological Survey of China, I wish also to express again my most hearty thanks for their unfailing help and support throughout the whole course of my work in China. I wish further to thank Dr. Wong for permission to use here, in modified form, a number of illustrations which have appeared earlier in publications either of the Geological Survey, or of the Geological Society, of China. The general physiography and location of the Choukoutien area is admirably illustrated in Professor G. B. Barbour’s two block diagrams, figs. 1 and 2, and in the three field sketches by the same artist of the immediate Choukoutien terrain, here reproduced in fig. 3. I am much indebted to Professor Barbour for his kindness in preparing and permitting me to use these instructive and artistic illustrations.