Some Undesigned Experiments in Ridges.

This section of the subject has afforded a good supply of indirect evidence, but so far no direct proof that papillary ridges can be created and disposed in their lines by pressure, friction and response. The clearest case is one I brought forward at the Zoological Society of London in 1905, and which was published in its proceedings of April 18th. It was an instance of the hand of a chimpanzee with papillary ridges produced in an aberrant or abnormal situation by walking, and was given as follows:—

“In the course of an examina­tion of the papillary ridges in some specimens of anthropoid apes and monkeys certain groups of ridges were found on the extensor surface of the terminal phalanges of the hand, apparently identical with those of the palmar and plantar surfaces. Three specimens of chimpanzee living in the Society’s menagerie were examined, of the ages: one year eight months, two-and-a-half years and six years. In the oldest of these, called “Mickie,” the ridges were definite and well-developed, on the second, third and fourth digits on both hands; in the youngest specimen, “Jack,” they were absent; and in “Jimmie,” two-and-a-half years old, they were small and ill-defined, as if in process of development.