MONKEY HAND-PRINTS 151 



hand. But in some at least of their alhes, the lemuroids, 

 as represented by the true lemurs of Madagascar, the 

 galagos and pottos of Africa, and the lorises and tarsier of 

 Asia, a very curious departure from this arrangement 

 obtains. In regard to the true lemurs, it is generally stated 

 that on the outside of the palm of the hand and under the 

 base of the fingers are situated fleshy pads, giving them 

 greater grasping power. This, however, is scarcely an 

 adequate statement of the true state of the case. Fig. C 

 shows the palm-impression of the red-fronted lemur, a well- 

 known Malagasy species. In this it will be seen that the 

 balls of the digits are expanded into large convex circular 

 pads upon which are a number of papillary ridges ; but 

 instead of these ridges covering the whole surface of the 

 pads, they are interrupted by an irregular network of 

 relatively large canals, producing the white lines in the 

 impression. On the palm of the hand are seen the three 

 interdigital eminences of the monkey's hand, together with 

 a large radial and a somewhat smaller ulnar eminence. 

 The radial eminence is, however, divided into two portions 

 by a deep groove, and on all five eminences are observable 

 the usual papillary ridges and grooves traversed by the 

 aforesaid irregular network of grooves. On the palmar 

 aspect of the second joint of the fingers, and on such 

 portion of the centre of the palm as exhibits an impression, 

 the papillary ridges, instead of being uniformly distributed 

 in regular lines, are restricted to certain small pustule-like 

 eminences, on which, however, the linear arrangement is 

 distinctly visible with the aid of a lens. And if it had 

 been possible to obtain an impression of the basal joints 

 of the fingers, a similar pattern would doubtless have 

 been noticeable there also. Whether the curious arrange- 

 ment of canals characteristic of the palm of the red-fronted 



