MINUTE ANATOMY OF PAPILLARY RIDGES 83 



deal in the presence and degree of imbrication of the ridges ; but 

 Figs. 161, 162 have been chosen as instances of distal imbrication 

 on the digits of the hand, and Fig. 165 of proximal imbrication 

 on part of the plantar surface of the foot. Fig. 164 is a section 

 through the tip of the second digit of the foot, and though the 

 specimen was somewhat macerated, indicates a marked tendency 

 of both ridges and papillae of the corium to distal imbrication. 



Birds. — The skin of the foot of birds frequently presents an 

 imbrication either distal or proximal, of the scales covering the 

 digits and plantar surface, as in Fig. 166 of an Apteryx or Fig. 

 168 of the terminal phalanx of a Partridge and Fig. 170, the 

 well-marked proximal imbrication of the scales on the terminal 

 phalanx of the fourth digit. 



These cases have been chosen out of a large number so as 

 to show how widely distributed is this small but imjportant 

 phenomenon. 



