SKIN COLOUR 167 



whether their influence is Hkely to mask the mani- 

 festation of segregation, and if so, to what degree. 

 We may then compare these purely tentative Mendehan 

 expectations* with, the existing evidence, and consider 

 whetner they do not better fit the facts than those which 

 logically flow from the hypothesis of " blending." 



To come then to the facts as they are described in 

 Professor Pearson's note. It appears that the offspring 

 from a marriage of an European with a negressf is a 

 " definite blend," producing a coloured type known 

 as the mulatto. Two classes of mulattoes are known. 

 There is a " brown mulatto," having his skin the " colour 

 of mahogany," and a " yellow mulatto," whose skin 

 colour IS that of a " well-cleaned, nearly new brown 

 boot." In the West Indies, the mulattoes are comprised 

 of about 85 per cent, of the brown type and about 15 

 per cent, of the yellow type ; this statement of pro- 

 portional numbers is only an approximate one, and is 

 based upon the impreswlons of general experience. The 

 existence of two such apparently widely divergent coloured 

 types of mulatto is an exceedingly interesting fact, and 

 it has a Mendelian significance. It is a fact which is 

 worth emphasizing now, but we defer its consideration 

 until later (infra page 172). 



We may next deal with the nature of the offspring 

 which results from a marriage of mulatto with mulatto. 

 As far as we can understand the answer of Professor 

 Pearson's correspondent, it appears that when two 

 brown mulattoes marry, the offspring is a brown mulatto 

 Uke the parents. When two yellow mulattoes marry, 

 the offspring are similarly like the parents and are yellow. 

 The correspondent does not state this definitely. But 

 comparing the ansAver with the question (which is the 

 No. 4 alluded to above), we feel that is what it is intended 

 we shall infer. But we are quite definitely told that 

 " no pure black skins nor pure white skins come from 



* We are led to advance those purely tentative specidations in order 

 to show how different some Mendelian expectations may he from 

 those which have been imputed to Mendelians by persons anxious to disprove 

 Mendehsm. 



tApparently the unions are nearly always a male European with a 

 negress. The reciprocal union between a white womanand a negro is 

 much rarer. 



