DEEMATOGLYPHICS IN PRIMATES 111 



tinguished by absorption into expanded hypothenar and 

 thenar patterns or by blending into their continuous open 

 fields, this occurring characteristically in Ateles, Lagothrix, 

 Hylobates and Homo. A fairly wide range of variation in the 

 configuration of the parathenar area may be found in a single 

 genus, e.g., Lasiopyga, figures 405-419. 



The calcar configurational field is in the heel region. This 

 region in prosimians is hairy and thus is not included in the 

 zone of dermatoglyphics. In all other groups the calcar area 

 is usually completely ridged, the configuration being either 

 an open field or a pattern. Patterns occur inconstantly in those 

 genera which bear them at all and these genera are scattered 

 in the simians without relationship to the taxonomic groups. 

 Genera in which calcar patterns are relatively very common, 

 occurring in about half or more than half of the soles available, 

 are : Alouatta, Ateles, Symphalangus and Pongo. Lesser but 

 still significant frequencies occur in: Callithrix, Saimiri, 

 Cebus, Pithecus, Cercocebus, Hylobates and Gorilla. In all 

 other genera calcar patterns are either extremely infrequent 

 (Lasiopyga, Pygathrix, Homo) or absent. 



Comparisons between palm and sole. In comparing the 

 departures from the morphologic plan in hand and foot the 

 following trends of unlikeness between the members, in their 

 homonymous areas, are to be especially emphasized. (1) In 

 the hand, when H d and H p are represented by a single pattern, 

 that pattern is most frequently situated in H p . This is re- 

 versed in the sole, where if in such blendings the pattern 

 does not lie at a level intermediate between the characteristic 

 positions of H d and H p , it is usually in the H d region. (2) Single 

 hypothenar patterns lying at the intermediate level between 

 H p and H d are characteristic of more genera in the case of the 

 sole than of the palm. This placement of a hypothenar pat- 

 tern may be regarded descriptively as a phase in the absorp- 

 tion of the two elements which, if carried to its full expression, 

 might be evidenced as the combination having a pattern center 

 shifted still farther, either to H d or to H p . (3) The palm does 

 not possess an equivalent of Th p . Separate occurrences of 



