THE HYPOTHENAR, INTERDIGITAL AREA, THENAR (H.I.T.) SYSTEM FACILITATES THE COMPARISON OF LATENT PALMPRINTS WITH PALMPRINTS OF KNOWN INDIVIDUALS. EACH CARD IN THE SYSTEM CONTAINS AN INDIVIDUAL'S IDENTITY AND PALMPRINT, PLUS CODES (PUNCHED HOLES) THAT CLASSIFY THE PRINT ACCORDING TO FEATURES OF EACH OF THE PALM'S THREE AREAS. USING A SORTING NEEDLE, THE INVESTIGATOR CAN RETRIEVE CARDS FOR PRINTS OF THE SAME GENERAL PATTERN AS THE LATENT PRINT IN QUESTION. THESE CARDS CAN BE ANALYZED VISUALLY TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE FILE CONTAINS A MATCH FOR THE LATENT PRINT. THE MANUAL EXPLAINS HOW TO OBTAIN AND CLASSIFY PALMPRINTS, PREPARE H.I.T. CARDS, AND CONDUCT A SEARCH OF THE H.I.T. FILE. THE PRODUCTS OF SAMPLE SEARCHES ARE DESCRIBED. ALSO INCLUDED ARE NOTES ON THE ADMISSIBILITY OF PALMPRINTS AS EVIDENCE, A GLOSSARY, A BIBLIOGRAPHY, AND AN INDEX. PHOTOGRAPHS, PRIMARILY OF HANDPRINTS THAT ILLUSTRATE THE IDENTIFYING FEATURES USED IN THE H.I.T. CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM, ILLUSTRATE THE TEXT. (LKM)