298 MR. H. M. WAiii-is ON THE GBOwxH Mar. 2, 



On the Growth of Hair upon the Human Ear, and its 

 Testimony to the Shape, Size, and Position of the 

 Ancestral Organ \ By H. M. Wallis. 



[Received January 23, 1897.] 

 (Plates XIX.-XXII.) 



Contents. 



Page 



i. Literature of tlie Subject 298 



ii. Ears of Infants 302 



iii. Ears of Adults 304 



iv. Ears of Quadrumana 305 



V. Shape, Position, and Movements of the Ancestral Ear 306 



vi. Summary 309 



i. Literature of the Subject. 



In 1871, Darwin called attention to the eusp sometimes seen 

 upon the folded edge of tbe human ear and suggested that this 

 feature was a sui-vival of the pointed tip which terminated the ear 

 of our remote ancestor - (see figure, p. 299). 



The hypothesis was ingenious,, but less convincing than many 

 of the bold and splendid deductions of our great philosopher. 

 Support from corroborative phenomena was needed, but none was 

 forthcoming. Indeed, had this identification stood alone, it 

 would hardly have commanded acceptance ; but making its appear- 

 ance in good company amidst a phalanx of marshalled facts, which 

 there was no gainsaying, it obtained an amount of credence which 

 was scarcely deserved. 



In Germany, Ludwig Meyer ^ and, more recently, C. Langer * 

 have thrown doubt upon Darwin's interpretation of the cusp in 

 question. But although this cusp is sometimes triple, frequently 

 double, and still more frequently absent altogether — variations 

 which, to say the least, do not uphold Darv^'in's view' — the current 

 of intellectual opinion has borne the Theory of Natural Selection 

 into favour and this item has travelled with the rest. 



Although for nearly a generation no fresh light has been thrown 

 upon this particular question, yet for years past the cusp has been 

 labelled "Darwin's Point" upon diagrams and museum prepar- 

 ations ; the correctness of his identification has been generally 

 assvnned and the matter treated as settled. 



This, however, was not Darwin's opinion, as will presently 

 appear. 



In July 1879 my attention was drawn to the ears of a new- 



1 Communicated by Prof. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S. 



2 ' Descent of Man,' 1871, i. p. 22. 



' Ludwig Meyer, ' Ueber das Darwin'sche Spitzohr,' Berlin, 1871. 

 * C. Langer, " Ueber Form und LageTerhiiltnisse des Ohres," Mit. d. 

 anthropol. Gesellsch. in Wien, xii. 1882. 



