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Death of a Stereotype' by C. Loring Brace There are no races. There are only clines. [Livingstone 1962:279] The most important requirement for the analysis of human variation is the appreciation of the selective pressures that have operated to influence the expression of each trait separately. Human physical variation can best be understood by relating the distributions of specific morphological features to the distribution and history (also the prehistory) of the relevant selective and adaptive forces. [Brace and Montagu 1977:390-91, italics in the original] for extensive comments and criticisms of an earlier version of this paper. The errors that remain, despite their efforts, are solely the result of my own stubbornness.

The crown morphology of 202 dental casts from living Lengua Indians is described and compared with other Amerind, Melanesian, and Caucasoid samples. The Lengua dentition shows a high Mongoloid component with little effects of possible European admixture, thus supporting the theory that despite early Franciscan and Jesuit attempts at missionization, much of the Paraguayan Chaco has remained genetically and culturally relatively intact well into the present century. A finding of note was the apparent sexual dimorphism of the Carabelli cusp, which questions earlier assumptions that no correction for sex need be made in population studies when dealing with this trait. Since mandibular canines show proportionately less wear in the canine distal accessory ridge area than maxillary canines, the value of the incidence of this trait in population and microevolutionary studies is questioned.

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