PALM AND SOLE STUDIES. 163 



Loth's and mine, the individuals were flat-footed and the prints 

 were broader than usual, so that if the feet had had the customary 

 height of arch these figures would have lacked in extent, and in 

 the case of the Liberian the loop upon the inner side might have 

 been entirely lost. 



It thus forcibly suggests itself that such patterns as the three 

 just considered may not be as rare as has been thought, but that 

 many of the prints of the usual monotonous type, consisting, through 

 the middle of the foot, of transverse parallel lines without special 

 features, might yield interesting results if the entire friction-skin 

 area were included. 



Some years ago I attempted to remedy this defect by rolling 

 the foot while being printed, first to the outer, and then to the 

 inner, side, but while this proved fairly satisfactory for the outer 

 portion, the hollow part of the sole, upon the inner side, still 

 remained unprinted, and left a large oval area without record. 

 Schlaginhaufen also, who devoted some study to this hollow 

 region in his extensive work on the Planta (1905) has later sought 

 to include in his records these neglected parts, and has places 

 in his printed record sheet for (i) the tread area, (2) the rolled 

 outer edge, (3) the inner hollow of the foot, and (4) the back of 

 the heel, thus making the record a complete one (1912). 



In my own attempts to investigate this border area of the soles 

 I find it expedient, first, to make a careful study of the foot itself 

 with a lens, and then to prepare prints corresponding in general 

 to those recommended by Schlaginhaufen; but in some cases I 

 supplement these by strips, applied to the inked foot, and extend- 

 ing from one triradius, or other feature, to another, in order that 

 they may be correctly oriented. Naturally, the three-dimen- 

 sional object which the friction-skin covers makes it impossible 

 to reduce the whole to an exact plane, but by overlapping the 

 strips, superposing them carefully at the triradii, pattern-cores, 

 and other important places, and then tracing the whole by a 

 thin piece of paper which covers it, such a figure as that shown 

 here (Fig. 21) may be obtained, which is approximately correct. 

 For the details of pattern-cores, etc., the separate slips are suf- 

 ficient, but the exact orientation of these must naturally be 

 preserved. 



