Europe is the original homeland of the bulk of the White or Europid race and most of its pronounced subraces. Within this area sufficient data are available to map the geographical distribution of some of the most important anthropological traits and to investigate the causes of these regional variations. In this paper the distribution in Europe of pigmentation, skin color, hair color, and eye color, as well as stature, head form, and blood groups was reviewed and analyzed.

Skin color in Europe varies from dark brown in the south to rosy white in the northwest. Hair color and eye color show parallel regional variations, ranging from light-mixed hair and light eyes across northern Europe to dark hair and dark eyes in the regions bordering the Mediterranean Sea. The peoples of the western areas of Great Britain and Ireland show a much darker pigmentation of the hair than of the skin and eyes, while the opposite pattern is found among many north Russian populations. Pigmentation among the Europid or White race appears to have been extensively adapted to the different climatic conditions found through-out the continent. The most strongly depigmented Europid races are found in the cool-damp northwest part of the continent.

The distribution of stature in Europe also exhibits regional variations, although not to the same extent as pigmentation. The tallest people in Europe are the peoples of northwest Europe, inhabiting a zone extending from Ireland in the west to Estonia in the east. A second area of tall stature is to be found in northern and central Yugoslavia. The shortest peo-pie in Europe are the Scandinavian and Finnish Lapps in the far north of Europe and the inhabitants of the poorer, mountainous regions of south and southwest Europe and the Mediterranean islands, especially Sardinia.

The distribution of stature appears to be partially correlated with living conditions, so that the shorter populations are frequently found in the economically underdeveloped regions of the continent. However, the inhabitants of the poor, mountainous regions of central Yugoslavia are among the tallest people in Europe, if not the world. There has been a pronounced secular increase in stature during the last century in many parts of Europe. This increase has paralleled the rise in living standards in these areas. However, regional differences in stature within nations have been maintained despite the overall increase in stature.

Head form was measured by three indices - the breadth-length index (or cephalic index on the living), the height-length index, and the height-breadth index. Each of these indices shows regional variations throughout the European continent. The breadth-length index shows two zones of long-headedness or dolichocephaly in northwestern and southwestern Europe and a zone of round-headedness across central Europe.

From the Middle Ages through the nineteenth century there has been a pronounced trend toward a greater degree of round-headedness or brachycephaly in many parts of Europe. This is reflected in a higher mean cephalic index or breadth-length index over time in these regions, although in the twentieth century there has been a moderate reversal of this trend. Environmental, hereditary, and selective factors may be involved in varying degrees in these changes in head form.

The height-length index shows Europe divided into a hypsicephalic or high-skulled East and a chamaecephalic or lowskulled West. The high-skulled zone comprises most of Russia and eastern Europe, the Balkans, Italy and most of Spain. The low-skulled zone includes the British Isles, Scandinavia, the Low Countries, Germany, France, northern Spain, and the Mediterranean Islands. This index appears to be environmentally constant and shows little or no change within historical times. The height-breadth index shows a region of low-broad skulls in western Germany, France, and northern Spain and a region of low-long skulls in southeastern Finland, northeastern European Russia, the eastern Balkans, southern Spain, and the Mediterranean islands.

The geographical distribution of the various blood group systems is of interest to anthropologists as a possible aid in tracing earlier migrations and mixtures of races. Blood groups are completely hereditarily determined, have a known mode of inheritance, and can be translated into gene frequencies. The p-gene - for blood type A - attains higher frequencies in Europe than in most other areas of the world. The European maxima are found among the Scandinavian and Finnish Lapps and in west central Spain. Lower frfrequencies are found in the Celtic regions of the British Isles (Scotland, Wales, and Ireland) and among the Basques. The q-gene - for blood type B - declines in frequency from east-ern Europe to western Europe. There is a sharp drop in q-values at the Scandinavian-Finnish and German-West-Slavic language boundaries. The r-gene - for blood type - attains its highest frequencies in refuge areas and among peoples in the westernmost parts of Europe - the Basques, Irish, Scotch, and Icelanders. The percentage of Rh-negative individuals is higher than average among the Basques and lower than average among the Lapps and Sardinians.

The values of anthropological traits, such as: pigmentation, stature, cranial height, cephalic index, and blood type gene frequency vary in their geographical distribution throughout Europe. Correlations among these trait values are also found, resulting in anthropologically distinct regions within the European continent. On this basis, Europe can be divided into four distinct quadrants.
These quadrants comprise: (1) a "Germanic" northwest (characterized by blond pigmentation, rather tall stature, long and low skulls, and a low frequency of blood type B); (2) a "Romanic" southwest (characterized by brunet pigmentation, shorter stature, low skulls-but variable breadth-length relations, and also a low frequency of blood type B); (3) a Balkan southeast (characterized by brunet pigmentation, variable stature, high skulls-but variable breadth-length relations, and a moderately higher frequency of blood type B); and (4) a "Slavo-Finnic" northeast (characterized by variable pigmentation and stature, high skulls and moderately round skulls, and a high frequency of blood type B).

The White or Europid primary race is divided into a number of distinct races and subraces. These are defined on the basis of combinations of anthropological traits, such as: body form, facial form, nasal form, pigmentation (hair color, eye color, and skin color), cranial form (breadth-length, height-length, and height-breadth indices), stature, and blood type gene frequency. The races of Europe derived in this manner comprise: the Palaeo-Atlantid, the Nordid (with North-Atlantid, Faelish, and Scando-Nordid subraces), the Taurid (with Dinarid, Armenid, and Mtebid subraces), the Carpathid, the Berid, the West-Mediterranean, the East-Mediterranean, the Volgid, the East-Baltid, the East-Alpine, the West-Alpine, and the Scando-Lappid.

Each of the above races or subraces is generally predominant in a specific region of Europe. Ancient and modern migrations, however, have spread many of these races outside of their original homeland. Consequently, each European nation or people is characterized by its own unique anthropological structur - i.e., frequency distribution of the various races and subraces. These structures were briefly outlined and described for the different nations and peoples of Europe.

The origins of the races of Europe can be traced back to the end of the last Ice Age and the beginning of the succeeding Mesolithic period. The retreating ice cover opened up for settlement new areas of Europe. Changing climate, expanding area of settlement, and more varied habitat provided the selective forces for differentiating and molding the living races of Europe.

The descendants of the West European and North African Cro-Magnid race followed the retreating ice into western and northern Europe. The earliest migrants were the Palaeo-Atlantids, followed by the Faelish and Scando-Nordids. The depigmentation of the Faelish and Scando-Nordid races appears to have occurred as an adaptation to the cold and cloudy climate of northern Europe. The East Baltid race in adjacent areas of northeastern Europe also became strongly depigmented or blond. In the warmer and damper northwest of Europe, however, the Palaeo-Atlantid and North-Atlantid races became only partly depigmented. Thus, arose the contrast between the blond North and the brunet South of Europe which has existed for several millennia.

The southwestern European races-the Bends, West-Mediterraneans, and Alpines - evidently originated from shorter-statured and darker Cro-Magnids. These races were less adapted to cold climate. The origins of the brachycephalic Alpine race can be traced back to the Neolithic period. However, the Alpine race only became prominent in the later Middle Ages of Europe.

The East-Mediterranean and East-Alpine races probably developed from the long-skulled and high-skulled Upper Paleolithic races of southeastern Europe and the Near East. These races also moved northward into central and eastern Europe in the early Neolithic period. They were preceded by the related, but shorter-statured Scando-Lappids, who followed the retreating ice northeastward as specialized reindeer hunters. These races of eastern Europe, together with the blond East-Baltids and the brunet Volgids, are all highskulled. Thus, arose the second major racial contrast in Europe - between the low-skulled West and the high-skulled East - which has remained virtually constant for several millennia.

The Dinarids and the Armenids arose in the northern part of southwestern Asia and later became brachycephalized. The expansion of these races to other parts of Europe, together with the Litorid settlements in northwestern Europe, may be a result of later migrations of prospectors and mining specialists in the late Neolithic and early Bronze Ages.

In the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, the proto-Indo-European culture arose in Central Europe. The south-eastemmost Indo-European group - the Indo-Iranians - seem to have been basically East-Mediterranean in race. The other Indo-European groups, however, appear to have been predominantly blond and Nordid in race. From the early Bronze Age onward, southward migrations took place of blond Indo-European peoples from Central Europe and the northern Balkans into the southern Balkans and Mediterranean region. These migrations gave to Europe virtually all of its present languages, its mythology and culture, and its basic social structure.