DERMATOGLYPHICS IN PRIMATES 137 



coincide or nearly coincide in Old World monkeys, some New 

 World genera, in gorilla and in chimpanzee. Such coincidence 

 evidences that in these forms there is little or no distinction 

 between palm and sole when areas on reverse sides of the 

 anatomical axis are compared. It would suggest negligible 

 differential specialization of hand and foot insofar as that 

 specialization may be. expressed in pattern intensities. In 

 contrast, extreme differences in these cross comparisons occur 

 in Tarsius, Lemur, in several New World monkeys (especially 

 Ateles, Lagothrix, Cebus), in Hylobates, Pongo and Homo. 

 The finding naturally suggests unlikeness in regional func- 

 tional specialization of palm and sole. 



The comparisons combined in figure 600 may now be viewed 

 collectively. It will be apparent that coincidence or close ap- 

 proximation of the results of all the foregoing comparisons 

 may be interpreted as a sign of lack of differential specializa- 

 tion, applying to the two groups within the same member, 

 to corresponding groups of the two members, and to the 

 opposite groups in the two members. It may be inferred, 

 therefore, that Old World monkeys and some New World 

 monkeys as well as Gorilla and Pan show a generalization of 

 pattern intensity in hand and foot. The extremes of distinction 

 between palm and sole are noted in Ateles, Hylobates, Pongo 

 and man. Inspection of the figure will show that while these 

 four forms share the common trait of unlikeness between hand 

 and foot, the regional and membral differences are incon- 

 sistent among them. 



The components of the thenar and hypothenar groups, in 

 disto-proximal succession, are next considered. The distal, 

 intermediate and proximal units of the two groups are re- 

 spectively combined to form new divisions for the examination 

 of the relative intensities in regions which are separated 

 transversely. The groups are : II and IV, I and H d , Th and 

 H p . Inasmuch as our concern is with the relative intensities 

 of these groups, their pattern intensities are reduced to per- 

 centile values, the percentages being based upon the total 



