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Data from 200 male and 200 female South African Negroes’ finger and palm prints are presented. The subjects were apparently normal volunteers who belonged to the Zulu ethnic group. The frequency distributions of finger print pattern types, digital and total ridge counts, a–b scores and atd angles are given. The Zulus have a lower mean total ridge count than the other races of the Durban area; in males it is 129.87 and in females, 119.62.

The palmar dermatoglyphs of 200 males and 200 females of the Negro and Coloured communities in Durban are analyzed by a topological method. The method is suitable for population studies but it is recommended that for clinical studies the traditional notation be used. Negroes, in this study of the Zulu ‘race’, have fewer thenar patterns and an extremely high prevalence of loops in the IVth interdigital area. The Coloureds of this sample did not show any remarkable differences.

Pericentric inversion of the human Y chromosome has been reported infrequently but it is known to be an inherited anomaly. Several Harris, 1970) that both sexes were affected; the parents were first cousins, and the affected boys and their normal father had a pericentric inversion of the Y chromosome. The present study was done in an attempt to find the origin of the unusual Y chromosome. Family StudyThe family, whose pedigree is shown in Fig. 1 (Fig. 4). There was little difference in the number of interphase nuclei showing a Y-spot; the highest score was 22% positive and the mean score of all buccal and lymphocyte preparations was 7%.