Chap. I. 



Rudiments. 



15 



a horizontal plane, so as to catch sounds from all directions. It 

 has been asserted that the ear of man alone possesses a lobule ; 

 but "a rudiment of it is found in the gorilla;" 31 and, as I hear 

 from Prof. Preyer, it is not rarely absent in the negro. 



The celebrated sculptor, Mr. Woolner, informs me of one little 

 peculiarity in the external ear, which he has often observed both 

 in men and women, and of which he perceived the full" signi=» 

 ficance. His attention was first called to the subject whilst at 

 work on his figure of Puck, to which he had given pointed ears. 

 He was thus led to examine the ears of various monkeys, and sub- 

 sequently more carefully those of man. The peculiarity consists 

 in a little blunt point, projecting from the inwardly folded margin, 

 or helix. "When present, it is developed at birth, and, according 

 to Prof. Ludwig Meyer, more frequently in man than in woman. 

 Mr. Woolner made an exact model of one such case, and sent me 

 the accompanying drawing. (Fig. 2.) 

 These points not only project inwards 

 towards the centre of the ear, but often 

 a little outwards from its plane, so as 

 to be visible when the head is viewed 

 from directly in front or behind. They 

 are variable in size, and somewhat in 

 position, standing either a little higher 

 or lower ; and they sometimes occur 

 on one ear and not on the other. They 

 are not confined to mankind, for I ob- 

 served a case in one of the spider- 

 monkeys (Ateles beelztbutli) in our 

 Zoological Gardens; and Dr. E. Ray 

 Lankester informs me of another case 

 in a chimpanzee in the gardens at 

 Hamburg. The helix obviously con- 

 sists of the extreme margin of the ear folded inwards ; and 

 this folding appears to be in some manner connected with the 

 whole external ear being permanently pressed backwards. In 

 many monkeys, which do not stand high in the order, as baboons 

 and some species of macacus, 32 the upper portion of the ear is 

 slightly pointed, and the margin is not at all folded inwards ; 

 but if the margin were to be thus folded, a slight point would 

 necessarily project inwards towards the centre, and probably a 

 little outwards from the plane of the ear ; and this I believe io 



31 Mr. St. George Mivart, ' Ele- Lemuroidea, in Messrs. Murie and 

 mentary Anatomy,' 1873, p. 396. Mivart's excellent paper in 'Tran- 



32 See also some remarks, and sact. Zoolog. Soc' vol. vii. 1869, pp 

 the drawings of the ears of the 6 and 90. 



Fip 



Human Ear, modelled 

 and drawn by Mr. Woolner. 



c(. The projecting point. 



