Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 August 2014
Sexual variation in fingerprint types and pattern size, as measured by total ridge counts, has been examined in a sample of 84 Australian aborigines and compared with other populations. As it generally happens in a population, total ridge counts have been found to be higher in males than females on account of (1) the males' higher frequency of whorls and lower frequency of loops, and (2) the males' larger whorl counts. The higher incidence of arches in females than males has also been found to play a role.
The data on which this paper is based were collected on a Department of Anatomy expedition financed mainly by grants from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (New York) and the University of Adelaide, South Australia.
This paper was presented and read at the 58th session of the Indian Science Congress Association, Bangalore, 3 to 9 January 1971.