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The Yanomama Indians are a tribe of slash-and-burn cultivators who live deep in the tropical forests of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil. As a part of a larger study of microdifferentiation and gene flow we report the results of genetic typing of the haptoglobin (Hp), transferrin (Tf), Group Specific Component (Gc), albumin (Alb), ceruloplasmin (Cp) and two beta lipoprotein (Ag and Lp) systems in Yanomama Indians from 37 villages, each with 31 t o 176 sampled individuals. The findings in several villages in which fewer than 30 individuals were sampled have been grouped together in a 'miscellaneous' category. The total number of persons typed for each system ranges between 359 (Ag system) and 2503 (Gc system). A report listing preliminary gene frequencies for the first ten of these villages has been previously prepared (Arends et al. 1967). The location of the villages and a description of the dates and techniques of blood collection and transport are given in Gershowitz et al. (1972) and Ward (1972).

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Immunochemical studies are described in an unusual case of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia. Two monoclonal Igs (whole IgG1/kappa and IgG1/kappa half molecules) occurred in the serum in addition to the IgM monoclonal protein. Protein electrophoresis of the serum showed a monoclonal component in the gamma region, and the immunoelectrophoresis allowed detection of a monoclonal IgM/kappa and another abnormality represented by a double precipitin line in serum and urine, observed when antiserum anti IgG was used. The abnormal proteins were purified and further analyzed. The IgG-related proteins were whole four chains IgG monoclonal molecules, 1/2 IgG monoclonal molecules, composed of one heavy and one light chain, and residual polyclonal IgG. The half molecules were antigenically deficient with respect to normal IgG. The idiotypic analysis showed that the three monoclonal proteins shared idiotypic determinants. This patient had clinical and morphological findings of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia and, as observed in other cases, the formation of half molecules was not associated with a distinct clinical syndrome.

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