Two alternative haplotypes at the complex locus controlling hemoglobin beta chain synthesis in Mus musculus were compared at the DNA level. As expected, Hbbd homozygotes--which as adults synthesize two species of beta chain--have two genes for beta globin. Adult mice homozygous for the Hbbs haplotype make only a single type of beta polypeptide, yet they also have two beta globin genes. Apparently the two Hbbs genes encode identical proteins, or one of the two genes is not detectably expressed. The Hbbs and Hbbd haplotypes are thus more similar at the DNA level than studies of their polypeptide products have indicated.