58 REPORTS OF INVESTIGATIONS AND PROJECTS. 



the Bureau of Soils, U. S. Department of Agriculture, visited the lake with 

 a party from the Desert Laboratory in June, 1909, and rendered valuable 

 assistance. 



It seems probable that the principal generalizations as to revegetation may 

 be made upon the basis of facts to be obtained within the next three or four 

 years, and it is proposed to organize a commission of persons, within and 

 without the Department, to give thorough attention to the various features of 

 the work. 



ACCLIMATIZATION: THE INDUCTIVE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATIC 

 COMPLEXES UPON ORGANISMS. 



The problems outlined in my report for 1908 have received continued 

 attention. The obvious reactions in the way of morphogenic alterations ex- 

 hibited by plants under environmental conditions different from those char- 

 acteristic of their habitats are being tested as to their hereditary character, 

 and effort is being directed to obtaining evidence of influences exerted on 

 germ-plasm. The specialized cultures of Professor Tower with the chryso- 

 melid beetles will be dealt with in a separate section. 



The establishment and successful culture of series of plants in the planta- 

 tions at 8,000 and 5,000 feet in the Santa Catalina Mountains and at the 

 Desert Laboratory have demonstrated that an additional location, furnishing 

 equable conditions of climate, is necessary to obtain well-rounded evidence 

 upon some features of the work. Such conditions had been found by two 

 years' test by Dr. W. A. Cannon at Carmel, 4 miles south of Monterey, 

 California. The precipitation record for this place for nine years gives the 

 following averages: January 3.2, February 3.3, March 3.9, April 1.62, May 

 0.8, June 0.16, July o, August 0.06, September 0.67, October 1.18, November 

 2.57, December 2.57. 



The rainfall is seen to occur in a single season, with the maximum in mid- 

 winter. The minimum temperatures are in the neighborhood of the freezing- 

 point, with a few maxima of 90° F. or over in the summer, but for the most 

 part the thermographic curve lies between 40° F. and 75° F. These condi- 

 tions permit the culture of plants from the mountain plantations, from the 

 Desert Laboratory, and from a wide range of territory on the eastern sea- 

 board. 



The Carmel Development Company, learning the needs of the Department, 

 offered to donate a building and ground suitable for the work, and this offer 

 was accepted by the Trustees of the Institution in December, 1908. 



Messrs. Cannon and MacDougal visited Carmel the last week in April, 

 1909, and installed a series of experimental cultures, and also presented the 

 plans for the laboratory to be erected, which had been designed by Mr. G. 

 Sykes, engineer of the Department. This matter was promptly taken in hand 

 by the donors and the laboratory was delivered to the Department ready for 



