IX'DIMENTS. 



15 



possesses a lobule; but "a rudiment of it is found in the gorilla;"" 

 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 signifi- 

 cance. 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. (Pig. 2.) 

 These points not only project inwards 

 towards the center 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 beelzebuth) 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,'^ 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 necassarily 

 project inwards towards the center, and probably a little out- 

 wards from the plane of the ear; and this I believe to be their 

 origin in many cases. On the other hand. Prof. L. Meyer, in an 

 able paper recently published,"' maintains that the whole case is 



Fig. 2. Human Bar, 

 modelled and drawn by 

 Mr. Woolner. 



a. The projecting point. 



SI Mr. St. George Mivart, 'Elementary Anatomy,' 1873, p. 396. 



=2 See also some remarks, and the drawings of the ears of the Lemu- 

 roldea, in Messrs. Murie and Mivart's excellent paper in 'Transact. 

 Zoolog. Soc' vol. vii. 1869, pp. 6 and 90. 



13 Ueber das Darwin'sche Spitzohr, Archiv fur Path. Anat. und Phys. 

 1871, p. 485. 



