REPORT OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 3 1 



In connection with the herbarium of pedigreed plants a card catalogue has been 

 established, which gives the origin and history of each lot of seeds that has 

 been cultivated or is to be cultivated in the garden. A system of numbering 

 has been adopted that will not only identify each plant or each lot of seeds, but 

 will also indicate the parentage. 



A second card catalogue gives phenological data regarding the local flora, and 

 when fully developed will serve as an index to the condition in which any 

 species may be found at anj- given date. 



Notes have been made on the variations of certain species in the local flora, 

 and in several instances quantitative studies have been completed. Prepara- 

 tion has been made for the continuation of this work during the winter by col- 

 lecting and preserving material either in alcohol or as pressed specimens. 



The station has also collaborated with Dr. D. T. MacDougal and other mem- 

 bers of the staff of the New York Botanical Garden in a study of Onagra 

 laviarckiana and its mutants, and the results of this study will appear shortly 

 as a publication from this station. Arrangements have been made to cultivate 

 several of these species of Onagra at the Station for Experimental Evolution 

 during the next few years in order to determine the exact relation of the mu- 

 tants to their parent form and their agreement or disagreement with known 

 laws of variation and heredity. 



Mr. Lutz reports as follows : 



The summer was chiefly spent in breeding insects for the purpose of discov- 

 ering suitable material for future work in the investigation of variation and in- 

 heritance. Incidentally a general collection was made of insects abundant in 

 this locality, especially of such as bid fair to be advantageous for use in evolu- 

 tionary studies. Material was also gathered for determining, if possible, the 

 existence and strength of assortative mating among the Arthropods, and part 

 of this was worked up preparatory to publication. 



Experiments have been started with a view toward determining the cause of 

 macropterism in short-winged species and the opposite condition in long-winged 

 ones. Dimorphic species seem especially suited to the investigation of Men- 

 delism, and it is hoped that this particular dimorphism may throw some light 

 upon the much-discussed question of inheritance. 



Hybridization experiments in several genera of insects have been attempted, 

 in conjunction with Miss Anne M. Lutz, in order to determine the behavior of 

 the paternal and maternal chromosomes respectively. 



Miss Lutz reports as follows : 



As a preliminary step to the study of the germ plasms of hybrid plants and 

 animals, it seemed advisable to spend a considerable portion of the present year 

 in making a general sur\-ey of the field about us, with a view of discovering 

 such forms native to this locality as might present desirable cytological qualities 

 for future hybridization experiments. As material is gradually acquired, full 

 data concerning it will be carefully recorded and the slides filed in cabinets 

 under convenient heads for future reference. Some little has been accomplished 

 in this line, other forms are the subject of present investigation, and considerable 

 material has been acquired and preserved *for winter .study. 



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