_Lip Thickness: Membranous_
Subm. + ++ +++ Total
No. % No. % No. % No. %
Fiji I 19 2 428 53 364 45 2 0 813
Interior 10 7 43 28 100 65 0 0 153
East 1 1 83 69 36 30 0 0 120
Coast 1 1/2 88 42 119 57 1 1/2 209
N.W. 4 5 39 49 36 46 0 0 79
Tonga 12 10 97 84 7 6 0 0 116
_Lip Thickness: Integumental_
Subm. + ++ +++ Total
No. % No. % No. % No. %
Fiji I 4 1/2 608 75 201 25 0 0 813
Interior 1 1/2 114 75 38 25 0 0 153
East 1 1 100 83 19 16 0 0 120
Coast 2 1 164 78 43 21 0 0 209
N.W. 0 0 55 70 24 30 0 0 79
Fiji II 0 0 1 1/2 26 20 106 80 133
Solomons 0 0 0 0 12 14 73 86 85
_Lip Eversion_
Absent Subm. + ++ Total
No. % No. % No. % No. %
Fiji I 12 1 333 41 444 55 24 3 813
Interior 0 0 63 41 88 58 2 1 153
East 8 7 77 64 35 29 0 0 120
Coast 0 0 63 30 138 66 8 4 209
N.W. 1 1 26 33 51 65 1 1 79
_Lip Seam_
Absent Subm. + ++ Total
No. % No. % No. % No. %
Fiji I 33 4 429 53 343 42 8 1 813
Interior 1 1 79 52 73 48 0 0 153
East 14 12 77 64 29 24 0 0 120
Coast 6 3 105 50 94 45 4 2 209
N.W. 3 4 44 56 32 41 0 0 79
Fijian lips are Negroid in thickness in many instances. Membranous lips
are thick in 45 per cent of the series, medium in 53 per cent, and
submedium in 25 per cent. Thickest lips occur in the interior and
coastal areas where the pronounced type registers 65 per cent and 57 per
cent, respectively. In the east, lips are more moderate in thickness,
and the pronounced category drops to 30 per cent.
Integumental lips also tend to be heavy but not so much as the mucous
parts. Twenty-five per cent of the total Fijians have thick integumental
lips and the remainder are moderate. Howells' Fiji II series classes 80
per cent as very pronounced and the remainder as pronounced. The Solomon
Islanders, with an 86 per cent incidence of very pronounced, have the
heaviest lips of all.
Lip eversion varies largely between moderate and submedium, 55 percent
and 41 per cent, respectively. The interior and coastal Fijians show
this trait a little more often than the others, whereas the eastern
people have least lip eversion. The lip seam is present in nearly all
cases, but not to a pronounced degree. Fifty-three per cent are
submedium and 42 per cent are moderate. The eastern groups are
definitely less endowed with this trait. The other provinces vary but
little from the total distribution.