The superficial palmar arteries were carefully dissected, using gross techniques, in 80 conserved cadaver hands. 78 of the specimens (97.5%) were shown to have the superficial palmar arch 64 (80%) of which were formed by anastomoses between ulnar and radial arteries. In 14 of the specimens (17.5%) the arch was formed by the ulnar artery alone. There were no arches in 2 of the specimens (2.5%) which were supplied by the anterior median artery.