30 HEREDITY OF SKIN COLOR IN NEGRO-WHITE CROSSES. 



At Jamaica I asked several highly intelligent colored and white 

 natives if they knew of cases of "reversion" to black skin color. All 

 replies agreed in holding the idea mythical. It was thought to have 

 arisen from the fact that two very light-colored persons might be the 

 parents of a medium-colored child. The following story, cited to 

 Miss Danielson, can be explained on this ground. Mr. C, of remote 

 negro origin, shows colored blood a little, and more so as he grows 

 older; his brother shows even more color in the skin. The former 

 married a "white" woman and there are five children, of whom three 

 show colored blood in skin and hair, one being known as "Kinky" 

 from the form of her hair, while the other two are "dark" (not seen). 

 The brother married a white person and his children show less of the 

 colored characteristics than he himself does. This first mating looks 

 like the union of two i -factor individuals. The Bermuda cases are so 

 exceptional that I think one is justified in doubting if the putative 

 fathers are the actual ones. 



A few actual pedigrees from Jamaica showing the results of re- 

 peated back-crossing of negro progeny upon white may be of interest 

 and are reproduced here. 



Case i. 



Gen. I. White father, black mother. 



Gen. II. Mulatto daughter ; by white man had 



Gen. III. Quadroon daughter; by white man had 



Gen. IV. Octoroon daughter, has curly, but not at all kinky, hair ; by a white 



man had 

 Gen. V. (a) Son, with olive skin and straight hair; (6) daughter, like 



brother; (c) daughter, fair. 



Case 2 (a High-class Jamaican Family). 



Gen. I. White father and negro mother ; had 



Gen. II. Mulatto son; by white woman had 



Gen. III. Quadroon daughter; by a Frenchman had 



Gen. IV. Octoroon daughter. She married a "pass for white" man derived 

 from two approximately mulatto parents and had 



Gen. V. A white-skinned son. He married a "pass for white" woman 

 whose parents ' ' passed for white. ' ' There were three children : 



Gen. VI. (a) A son with fair skin, black wavy hair; (6) a daughter with 

 dark "olive" skin and straight black hair; (c) a son with 

 swarthy complexion, a deeply tanned skin with much yellow, 

 dark brown eyes and black hair which shows a trace of a 

 tendency to curl. 



Case 3. 



Gen. I. White father, black mother; they had 



Gen. II. A mulatto daughter; she married a white man and had 



Gen. III. A quadroon son; by a quadroon he had 



Gen. IV. A white-skinned son; he married a medium woman; there were in 



Gen. V. two sons who passed for white; one of these by a Jewish woman 



with a little colored blood had 

 Gen. VI. Four sons, all fair and uniform in type. 



