The assessment ol sex in most of the individual bones of the slteleton' especially in the vertebrae, appears to be uncertain. It is not unusual for the workers engaged in anthropologicai studies or in medico-legal practice to be confronted with problems of diagnosing the sex of isolated bones (Warwick and williams' 19?3). The known criteria adoPted
in sexing skulls or Peivic bones cannot be applied with certainty in case of vertebrae.
Review of the available literature concerning the sex difierendes in the atlas and axis vertebrae reveals a great gaP in knowledge' Francis (1955), however, had contributed to this field by using groups of vertebrae with known sex.
The present rvork is, therefore, an endeavour to find out a metrical method for demonstrating sexual difierences
in a mixed collection of human atlas and axis vertebrae'