A FAMILY OF SPOTTED NEGKOES 



Q. I. SIMPSON AND W. E. CASTLE 1 



It is the purpose of this note to put on record an inter- 

 esting variation in human skin color which made its ap- 

 pearance as a mutation or sport in a negro family of the 

 southern United States some sixty years ago and has 

 shown itself fully hereditary through two generations of 

 offspring. The nature of the variation is shown in Figs. 

 1-A. It consists of a "piebald" condition of the skin, 

 which is spotted with white in a fairly definite pattern, 

 not 2 unlike that of certain domesticated animals. A more- 

 or-less continuous white area begins on the top of the 

 head, which has a crest of white hair, extends down over 

 the face (where, however, it may be interrupted) and 

 broadens out on the chest, which is either entirely white 

 or finely mottled. In the whitest individuals the chest 

 area extends around the sides of the body on to the back 

 (see Fig. 4), but fails to reach the mid-dorsal line. It 

 also extends on to the arms in like proportion to its ex- 

 tension elsewhere on the body, but the lower forearm and 

 hands, like the feet, are in all observed cases dark. The 

 ventral white area continues downward from the waist 

 line, and in at least one case (Fig. 4) covers the legs, 

 which are nearly free from black spots down to the knees. 

 There larger and more numerous specks of black begin, 

 which become continuous above the ankles. 



If we should describe the pattern in terms of its black 



