Digital ridge counts and genetic fields.

Principal components analysis of quantitative digital dermatoglyphics in a large Oxfordshire sample, subdivided into male, female, urban, and rural subsamples, suggests several distinguishable components. These appear meaningful biologically in that they resemble factors of limb growth, as suggested by evidence from disturbances in limb extremity development. The components are consistent in all four subsamples and are very similar to those identified in a large sample of Berkshire data. It is suggested that digital quantitative dermatoglyphic variation may provide an example of genetic field theory.