INTRODUCTION 



As long ago as 1823 Purkinje remarked, after describing 

 the configurations of the human finger tips and palms : "Also 

 in the hands of apes, even in their prehensile tails, similar 

 lines occur, the distinction of which adds to the knowledge 

 concerning the characteristics of the species. Zoologists, un- 

 less they consider them unimportant, will make them known 

 further. ' ' 



Little comprehensive work has been done in comparative 

 dermatoglyphics since the classic studies of Whipple ('04), 

 Schlaginhaufen ('05) and Kidd ('07). There have appeared 

 only a few comparative studies, and these are mostly limited 

 in scope: Bychowska ('30), on the palms of primates; 

 Cummins ('33), a description of the macaque; Midlo ('35), 

 on the tree shrew, Tupaia; Wolff ('37), a description of the 

 chimpanzee, and ('38), on other primates; Mutrux-Bornoz 

 ('37), an attempt to demonstrate the occurrence in man of 

 degenerative stigmata resembling the conditions in non- 

 human primates; Cummins and Spragg ('38) on the chim- 

 panzee in detailed comparison with man; Dankmeijer ('38) 

 on marsupials; and Midlo ('30, '38), dealing with primates 

 generally. 



We are prompted to resurvey the primates in the light of 

 analytic methods and points of view developed in recent 

 years and with the benefit of materials which are more ex- 

 tensive than those available to previous workers. It was 

 expected that new information might be obtained in relation 

 to morphology and that the utility of dermatoglyphics in 

 tracing genealogical affinities could be put to test. The ac- 

 count is based upon observations of the palmar and plantar 

 dermatoglyphics in thirty-six genera, which represent all the 

 existing families and subfamilies of both the prosimians 

 (Lemuroidea) and simians (Anthropoidea). 



