DERMATOGLYPHICS IX PRIMATES O 



There remains to be defined another element of the con- 

 figurations, the triradius (delta). At the conjunction of three 

 systems of ridges having unlike courses a triradius occurs, 

 appearing as a triangular consolidation of ridges. From each 

 angle a radiant is extended, either as an actually continuous 

 ridge or as one which may be projected according to pre- 

 scribed conventions of tracing. 



The topography on the palm and sole of discrete open fields, 

 patterns and vestiges, and to a large extent the situations of 

 triradii, are correlated with a systematic ordering of eleva- 

 tions of the volar surfaces (volar pads, walking pads or Tast- 

 ballen). Each pad represents the site of a configurational field. 



The morphologic plan of palmar and plantar configura- 

 tional fields, characterized below, must be viewed as an 

 idealized scheme. It is to be kept in mind that the basic plan 

 of localized configurations is a composite representing dis- 

 crete configurational fields (patterns, vestiges or open fields) 

 which occur repeatedly at corresponding sites in different 

 individuals and among different genera. Never in a single 

 member is the scheme fully realized in the sense that all its 

 units, thirteen in the palm or fifteen in the sole, actually appear 

 as discrete elements. Occasionally the individualities of sepa- 

 rate configurational fields are completely suppressed (e.g., 

 Hylobates, fig. 499). The usual condition, as will be evident 

 in scanning figures 5 through 593, is that several of the indi- 

 vidual configurational fields are expressed in the single palm 

 or sole. The identities of these fields are disclosed by their 

 positions. 



What is regarded as an especially significant analysis of 

 the observations is presented under the heading of pattern 

 intensity, where the characteristics of patterns are treated by 

 a quantitative method designed for more ready comparison 

 than is possible with the data as tabulated in a following 

 descriptive section. 



In the present analysis the characteristics of the several 

 fields in the individual hand or foot are recorded, the results 

 being summated for each genus. The reported observations 



