may be, though I am not satisfied with this view, that owing to their
arboreal habits and great strength they were but little exposed to danger,
and so during a lengthened period moved their ears but little, and thus
gradually lost the power of moving them. This would be a parallel case
with that of those large and heavy birds, which, from ihabiting oceanic
islands, have not been exposed to the attacks of beasts of prey, and have
consequently lost the power of using their wings for flight. The inability
to move the ears in man and several apes is, however, partly compensated by
the freedom with which they can move the head in a horizontal plane, so as
to catch sounds from all directions. It has been asserted that the ear of
man alone possesses a lobule; but "a rudiment of it is found in the
gorilla" (31. Mr. St. George Mivart, 'Elementary Anatomy,' 1873, p. 396.);
and, as I hear from Prof. Preyer, it is not rarely absent in the negro.

[Fig. 2. Human Ear, modelled and drawn by Mr. Woolner. The projecting
point is labelled a.]

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 significance. 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 subsequently 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.
(Fig. 2). These points not only project inwards towards the centre 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