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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLV 



of the various basal cells of the same and different 

 samples of skin are of identically the same color (the color 

 difference between the skin pigment granules and those 

 of the sections of attached hair is decided enough) but all 

 possible caution was observed to offset the personal factor. 

 In short, when the writer after much study w T as still some- 

 what undecided as to a definite stand, the slides were 

 shown to three different professors, all with long training 

 and much experience in the use of the microscope. These 

 men were asked to answer the following questions with 

 respect to the basal cells of the eighteen samples, and this 

 without knowledge of what the other men had written: 

 Are the pigment granules of the samples of skin of the 

 same color or of different colors? Name the color or 

 colors 1 The replies were uniform in recognizing only one 

 type of granules, and in describing it as " yellowish 

 brown," " brownish yellow " and " a dark golden or 

 yellowish brown— amber— somewhere between brass and 

 copper," respectively. One man noted the slightly 

 darker shade of the granules of the more superficial 

 cells. 



Number 14 (Fig. 1) : All the layers are again pigmented, 

 but there is a slightly smaller amount in the upper layers 

 than in number 9. The pigment cells of the cutis are here 

 somewhat more numerous, showing many anastomosing 

 processes, and forming in places a network of pigmented 

 strands just beneath the scarf skin. A variation in 

 amount of pigment in different regions of the basal layer 

 is again evident. The deeper color of number 9 as com- 

 pared with 14 seems due to the greater amount of pigment 

 present in the superficial layers. 



Numbers 1 and 2 are very like the foregoing except that 

 there is a slight decrease in the number of greatly packed 

 basal cells. 



Number 15: This sample shows a quite appreciably 

 smaller number of pigment cells in the epidermis and a 

 yet more pronounced decrease in the corium. 



Description of Mulatto Skins 

 Number 4: The number of granules in the great major- 

 ity of the basal cells of the epidermis is somewhat less 



