OCR Text |
Show 1897.] OE HAIR UPON THE HUMAN EAR. 305 iv. Ears of Quadrumana. In the hope of discovering the law of growth followed by these hairs the ears of various Apes and Monkeys have been examined. The drawings for figs. 20-37 (Plates X X I . & XXII.) were made at different times and in most cases under circumstances which made a common scale impossible, for specimens sealed up in bottles cannot readily be measured, nor will some Monkeys endure handling. Fig. 32 was drawn from a Monkey upon an organ in the street, and I have no idea of its scientific name. The ear of the Aye-Aye (Chelromys), fig. 37, was drawn from a skin. As a rule I have not trusted to skins, the ears upon which are apt to contract in drying; their true shapes and positions must then be matters of conjecture and the original direction of the hairs upon them is not preserved. The ear of Hylobates hoolock (fig. 20) is imbedded in deep black fur and hardly visible to casual observation. It is as nearly naked as can be, having few, if any, traces of hair or down upon the smooth black skin of the back of the concha and helix. Upon the folded margin of the upper edge of the ear are a very few fine hairs of no describable colour directed towards the region where tbe point of the ear presumbly once was, for no trace of a point, cusp, or nodule remains. This ear is sessile, fitting closely to the head. Orang.-The ears of a young male specimen dried and salted in the collection of the Zoological Society were hairless. The head, trunk, and limbs were covered with long red hair. Troglodgtes calvus (" Sally ").-As figured by Mr. F. E. Beddard in his monograph, the ears of this species are hairless and show little or no indication of a point. Troglodytes niger (fig. 21, 22, 23).-The ears of young Chimpanzees in the Zoological Gardens, 21 and 22, have no indications of any point, a very few small hairs upon the upper fold and a few more upon the lower edge directed towards one another as is usual. Backs almost hairless. Fig. 23.-Nn ear in spirit in the Oxford University Museum showed no rudimentary point and bore a few fine hairs upon the upper fold only; direction as usual. I could not examine the back. The ears of a Gorilla in the same museum (figs. 24, 25) showed some faint indication of a point towards which the small hairs were directed. In the immediate neighbourhood of what I took to be the rudimentary point the hairs were fewest and their direction most indefinite. The hairs upon the folded margin of the helix curled inwards as in the human ear and the few stronger and darker hairs upon the back of the upper ear pointed towards the edge. Cynocephalus (fig. 26).-This has a distinct though blunt point which is bare. The hairs upon the folded upper helix are directed strongly to this point, those which fringe the lower helix are less noticeably directed. Almost the same remarks apply to the ear of Cercopithecus cynosurus (fig. 27). |