526 Hepburn — The Pajnllary Ridges on the Hands and Feet of Monkeys and Men. 



a gelatine roller. After a few seconds of steady pressure upon this prepared 

 plate, the hand or foot was removed as carefully as possible. As there was a 

 constant tendency to blur the impression while withdrawing the limb, a dab 

 impression of the flexor aspect of each digit was taken on the same plate which 

 contained the imprint of the palm or sole. 



All the monkeys were thrown into a state of extreme terror by being caught 

 and removed from their cage, even by their keeper ; and in order to obtain the 

 impressions it was necessary to conceal each animal in a bag, from which a hand 

 or foot was protruded as required. Still they all, more or less, resented the 

 contact of their skin with the sticky plate of glass, and in consequence clear 

 impressions were extremely difficult to obtain. I also endeavoured to obtain 

 impressions by blackening the hand and foot with printers' ink, and then 

 applying them direct to paper, but a satisfactory impression was only secured now 

 and then by this means, while the general result was not nearly so good as by the 

 first method. In the case of a male chimpanzee I succeeded in obtaining dab 

 impressions of his right index and medius digits on paper, having previously 

 blackened his hand ; but, unfortunately, this made him so suspicious that he 

 absolutely refused all further assistance, and defied every attempt to secure his 

 hand and foot-prints either by cajolery or by force. With this exception, in 

 the manner indicated, I secured impressions of the hand and foot of the following 

 Primates in the monkey-house of the Dublin Zoological Gardens, viz : — 



Ateles ater (the black-faced sjDider-monkey). 

 Cynocephalus hahouin (the yellow, or dog-faced, baboon). 

 Cercopithecus niger (the black ape). 

 Cercocelus fuliginosus (the sooty mangabey). 

 Macacus cynomologus (the egret monkey). 

 Cynocephalus mormon (the mandrill). 



My best thanks are due to Dr. Browne, of Trinity College Anthropometric 

 Laboratory, for his kind assistance in the tedious work of preparing the 

 impressions. 



I cannot sufficiently express my indebtedness to Professor Cunningham, not 

 only for many valuable suggestions during the preparation of this Paper, but also 

 for having obtained for me the permission of the Council of the Royal Zoological 

 Society of Ireland to make the necessary impressions. 



It was some time before the glass plates were sufficiently dry to permit of 

 their being freely handled ; but when this could be done with safety, each plate 

 was used for the production of a photogi'aphic print, in which the original impres- 

 sion was magnified eight diameters. This scale was sufficiently distinct for the 

 examination and interpretation of the designs. 



