i860 1 882] DESCENT OF MAN 53 



The observations to which the following letters refer were continued 

 by Mr. Wallis, who gave an account of his work in an interesting paper 

 in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, March 2nd, 1897. The 

 results on the whole confirm the belief that traces of an ancestral pointed 

 ear exist in man. 



To H. M. Wallis. Letter 422 



Down, March 22nd, 1881. 



I am very much obliged for your courteous and kind note. 

 The fact which you communicate is quite new to me, and as I 

 was laughed at about the tips to human ears, I should like to 

 publish in Nature some time your fact. But I must first 

 consult Eschricht, and see whether he notices this fact in 

 his curious paper on the lanugo on human embryos ; and 

 secondly I ought to look to monkeys and other animals which 

 have tufted ears, and observe how the hair grows. This I 

 shall not be able to do for some months, as I shall not be 

 in London until the autumn so as to go to the Zoological 

 Gardens. But in order that I may not hereafter throw away 

 time, will you be so kind as to inform me whether I may 

 publish your observation if on further search it seems 

 desirable ? 



To H. M. Wallis. Letter 42} 



Down, March 3ist, 1881. 



I am much obliged for your interesting letter. I am glad 

 to hear that you are looking to other ears, and will visit the 

 Zoological Gardens. Under these circumstances it would be 

 incomparably better (as more authentic) if you would publish 

 a notice of your observations in Nature or some scientific 

 journal. Would it not be well to confine your attention to 

 infants, as more likely to retain any primordial character, and 

 offering less difficulty in observing. I think, though, it would 

 be worth while to observe whether there is any relation 

 (though probably none) between much hairiness on the ears 

 of an infant and the presence of the " tip ' on the folded 



