184 CHARLES MIDLO AND HAROLD CUMMINS 



four genera there is a considerable spread between the pattern 

 intensities of palm and sole in these group combinations, 

 the spread reaching its maximum in Homo and being least in 

 Pan. 



The three transverse groupings of configurational fields 

 of the palm, arranged in order of decreasing pattern intensity, 

 show in Pongo an approach to the relationship observed in 

 Hylobates. In Hylobates the order is proximal > intermediate 

 > distal. The relations in Pongo are proximal > distal > inter- 

 mediate, while in Gorilla, Pan and Homo the order is altered 

 to distal > proximal > intermediate, this order being a lesser 

 degree of departure from conditions in the Old World monkeys. 

 In the sole the sequences of the groups are much less con- 

 sistent among the apes and man. Pan presents the same 

 order as Hylobates. The variable relationships of these con- 

 figurational groups in Pongo, Gorilla and Homo may be noted 

 in figure 601. Here as in other comparisons, the palm evi- 

 dences more orderly relationships among genera than does 

 the sole. 



Differences in pattern intensity between right and left sides 

 are least in Pongo and Homo, greatest in Gorilla, and inter- 

 mediate in Pan. In the palm these asymmetries, in terms of 

 excesses of pattern intensity in corresponding configurational 

 areas, are shared about equally on right and left sides only 

 in man, while in the human sole the relative excess of asym- 

 metry on the right side is greater than that of any of the 

 great apes, indeed greater than in any other primate studied. 

 In man the relative asymmetry of the hand, that is to say the 

 contribution of the palm to the combined dermatoglyphic 

 asymmetries of palms and soles, is by far greater than that 

 occurring in any other primate ; Pan, Gorilla and Pongo fol- 

 low in the order of decreasing relative asymmetry of the 

 palm. The completion of this series with Pongo, in which 

 there is more asymmetry in the sole than in the palm, arrives 

 at a relationship which is about that of monkeys and gibbon. 



With special interest centering on the affinities of man, in 

 this instance the evidences of the dermatoglyphics call for 



