46 



THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



tion is nothing more than a partial exhibition of this change, in so far as 

 the skin is concerned. 



,W»«. U * 



change as one of the greatest evils which could have afflicted her. She 

 is a wife and mother, and her children differ in no respect from those of 

 other Negroes." 



Finally, the change frequently occurs after some wound or operation, 

 of which the following, taken from the Transactions of the Edinburgh 

 Medico-Chirurgical Society, is an instance. Samuel Herd, aged fifty, 

 had an operation performed on him in January 1818, from which he 

 perfectly recorered. Many months afterwards he came asking for some- 

 thing for his skin, as it was becoming white, and the other Negroes, lie 

 said, laughed at him. His bodily health was excellent. He states that 

 after the operation, the cicatrix remained white, and much about the 

 same time other parts became white also, especially the hands and feet. 

 The whitening extended up the fore-arm, till now it is nearly all white. 

 The same process is going on in the lower extremities ; the feet, legs, 

 thighs, and hips, being now almost all white ; some white spots show 

 themselves on the back and shoulders, and about half the breast is of the 

 same colour. About midsummer 1819 there was a large white marking 

 on the abdomen, and the scalp was nearly white, shining through the 

 dark curly hair. In another year it is noted, the ears, eyelids, forehead, 

 and nose, are changing colour very fast. The lips have a particular bright 

 vermilion colour ; the breast, abdomen, and back, are speckled, and the 

 extremities were now of a natural white appearance. 



A truly singular modification of this affection is mentioned by Dr 

 Winterbottom, in his excellent account of the natives about Sierra Leone. 

 " A case," says he, " occurred to me which may be regarded as an 

 intermediate step in this phenomenon : it was that of a man, of a mulatto 

 complexion, and much freckled, born of black parents, who had strong 

 red hair, disposed in very small wiry curls over his whole head." BIu- 

 menbach mentions another instance of this, and Vonder Groben several. 

 It would be interesting to extend these remarks, but our exhausted space 

 compels us to desist. 



But we must not indulge in such prefatory observations, and now re- 

 mark that the phenomenon occurs naturally at birth, in the children of 

 parents both of whom are black, or who are of different colours, one of 

 them having an admixture of white blood ; and also at a later period of 

 life, sometimes without any apparent cause ; and sometimes, again, as the 

 result of a wound, or some other accident. We shall supply a few au- 

 thorities and cases illustrating these several facts. " The children of 

 Negro parents," says Dr Prichard, "are sometimes variegated, having 

 their skin diversified with black and white spots, and part of their woolly 

 hair white. They are commonly called Piebald Negroes. This Tariety 

 is not very rare in the West Indies, and some examples of it have been 

 brought to this country. The white spots have the same hue as the skin 

 of a very fair European." 



This general statement, resting upon the authority of one in every way 

 so entitled to respect, we pass to the next modification alluded to. " A 

 black man, servant to a gentleman, married a white woman who lived in 

 the same family, and, when she proved with child, took a lodging for her 

 in Gray 's-Inn- Lane. When she was at her full time, the master had busi- 

 ness out of town, and took his man with him, and did not return till ten 

 or twelve days after this woman was delivered of a girl, which was as 

 fair a child to look at as any born of white parents, and her features ex- 

 actly like the mother. The Black at his return was very much disturbed 

 at the appearance of the child, and swore it was not his. But the nurse- 

 tender soon satisfied him, for, undressing the infant, she showed him the 

 right hip and thigh, which were as black as the father, and reconciled 

 him immediately to both mother and child." This case is to be found in 

 the 55th Volume of the Philosophical Transactions, and rests upon the 

 testimony of Dr Parsons, an eminent Naturalist of his day, who tells us 

 that, when informed of the fact, he went to the place, examined the child, 

 and found it true. 



The next modification is where the change occurs in an adult Negro, 

 and without any apparent cause. In illustration of this we abridge a 

 case described by Dr Pinkard, as one of the greatest natural curiosities 

 which was at the time to be seen in the West Indies. The woman 

 alluded to was about thirty years of age, and, until the last six or seven 

 years, possessed a completely sable skin, differing in no respect from 

 other Negroes, "nor do her form and features now," adds the Doctor, 

 "offer any thing remarkable, but, from the profoundest black her sur- 

 face is growing perfectly white. She is of a good figure, and has been 

 always regarded as of a very strong and healthy constitution. No pro- 

 bable cause is known, or even suggested, for the change, but, about five or 

 six years ago, white spots appeared upon her extremities, and, from that 

 time, she has been gradually losing the natural blackness of her surface. 

 The change commenced in the feet and hands, the legs and arms, which 

 have all now lost their sable hue, and are even whiter than those of 

 Europeans. Her nose and ears are also white, and some patches are 

 spreading upon the face, neck, and bosom, but her body still remains en- 

 tirely black. The woman continues in perfect health, and regards the 



ON THE NESTS OF FISHES 



In an early volume of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, there is a 

 slight notice of Fishes' nests found on the coast of Berwickshire by Ad- 

 miral Milne, but the species of Fish by which they are constructed is not 

 mentioned. Mr Duncan of Eyemouth has ascertained that they belong 

 to the Fifteen-spined Stickleback, (Gasterosteus Spinachia of Linnaeus) 

 —a fact confirmed by the Rev. Mr Turnbull, to whom the Berwick- 

 shire Club is indebted for specimens. 



These nests are to be found in spring and summer on several parts of 

 our coast, in rocky and weedy pools between tide-marks. They occur 

 occasionally near Berwick, but seem to be more common near Eyemouth 

 and Coldingham. They are about eight inches in length, and of an ellip- 

 tical form, or pear-shaped, formed by matting together the branches of 

 some common Fucus, as, for example, of the Fucus nodosus, with various 

 conferva;, ulva;, the smaller floridas, and corallinos. These are all tied 

 together in one confused compact mass by means of a thread run through 

 and around, and amongst them, in every conceivable direction. The 

 thread is of great length, as fine as ordinary silk, tough, and somewhat 

 elastic ; whitish, and formed of some albuminous secretion. The eggs 

 are laid in the middle of this nest, in several irregular masses of about an 

 inch in diameter, each consisting of many hundred ova, which are of the 

 size of ordinary shot, and of a whitish or amber colour, according to their 

 degree of maturity. The farther advanced are marked with two round 

 black spots, which are discovered by the microscope to be the eyes of the 

 embryo, at this period disproportionally large and developed. Masses of 

 eggs, in different stages of their evolution, are met with in the same nest. 

 It is evident that the fish must first deposit its spawn amid the growing 

 fucus, and afterwards gather its branches together around the eggs, weav- 

 ing and incorporating at the same time all the rubbish that is lying or 

 floating around the nucleus. 



For the safety of its nest and spawn, the Fish is apparently very anxious 

 for a time. Some individuals were watched, by Mr Duncan and the Rev. 

 Mr Turnbull, for some weeks, and it was observed that the same fish 

 was always in attendance upon its own nest. During the time of hope 

 and expectation, they become fearless, and will allow themselves to be 

 taken up by the hand repeatedly. There can be no doubt that their ob- 

 ject in remaining near the nest is to guard it against the attacks of such 

 animals as might feel inclined to prey upon its contents. 



Note.— Since the preceding notice was read to the Club, the Second 

 Volume of Mr Swainson's Natural History of Fishes, &c. has been pub- 

 lished ; and I find in it, says Dr Johnstone, that these nests are said to be 

 constructed bv the Gobies, on the authority of Olivi. The question is 

 worth further inquiry ; but on mentioning this statement of Olivi s to JUr 

 Maclaren of Coldingham, he assured me that he had seen and watcnea 

 the Stickleback in the act of making the nests we have just described. 



