  New techniques for the laboratory direct detection of dark matter weakly
interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are sensitive to the recoil direction of
the struck nuclei. We compute and compare the directional recoil rates
${dR}/{d\cos\theta}$ (where $\theta$ is the angle measured from a reference
direction in the sky) for several WIMP velocity distributions including the
standard dark halo and anisotropic models such as Sikivie's late-infall halo
model and logarithmic-ellipsoidal models. Since some detectors may be unable to
distinguish the beginning of the recoil track from its end (lack of head-tail
discrimination), we introduce a ``folded'' directional recoil rate
${dR}/{d|\cos\theta|}$, where $|\cos\theta|$ does not distinguish the head from
the tail of the track. We compute the CS$_2$ and CF$_4$ exposures required to
distinguish a signal from an isotropic background noise, and find that
${dR}/{d|\cos\theta|}$ is effective for the standard dark halo and some but not
all anisotropic models.
