Genetics of dermal ridges; the relation between total ridge-count and the variability of counts from finger to finger.

Several years ago the distributions of the ridge-counts on all ten fingers were given for a small sample of unrelated persons (Holt, 1949). A more detailed analysis has recently been made of the digital counts of a population sample of 1650 persons, 825 males and 825 females, and the results are given here. Included in the sample are the 100 males and 100 females whose counts were used previously. The material has already been described and total ridge-count data given (Holt, 1955). The data for individual digits are too lengthy for publication, but they are available at the Galton Laboratory.