London, England. 14 ix 70 The form of the female pelvis in Uganda has long been a matter of interest to anthropologists. Reported as early as 1884 by the medical traveller R. W. Felkin, it has since been discussed by many authors (Cook 1938, Mitchell 1938, Rendle-Short 1958, Allbrook and Sibthorpe 1961, Allbrook 1962, Zivanovic 1968a,b). Most of these authors have focused upon the close relationship between the form of the female pelvis and the problem of childbirth known as dystocia, or difficult labour. This was and still is one of the main obstetrical and vital problems in many African women. Hospital records in Uganda show that operative delivery for obstructive dystocia averages more than 12% of all deliveries, and this must be considered a relatively large percentage because most women do not come to the hospital for delivery. To deal with the problem of dystocia, the people of Uganda (not only the Ganda tribe) evolved an original method of performing Caesarean sections, using their own instruments, antiseptics, and anaesthetics, centuries before the influence of Western medicine began to spread throughout tropical Africa. Research on the relationship between dystocia and the form of the pelvis has recently been reviewed by Allbrook (1962). Investigations reported by Allbrook and Sibthorpe (1961) have shown that the Ganda female pelvis is one of the smallest on record, but has the same configuration as female pelves in human populations everywhere. The pelvic brim configuration is usually brachypellic or mesatipellic; the pelvis is generally contracted. The main dimensions fall within the range of variation for other human populations. The differences noted are insufficient to explain the frequency of dystocia. Recent work, however, has brought to light a characteristic of some importance. Using a measure developed by Radojevic (1961) for the height of the pubic arch-the distance of the pubic tubercle from a line drawn between the innermost parts of the two anterior superior iliac spines (Fig. 1)-I found