32 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



For several very obvious reasons, attention has been directed particularly to 

 the study of insects. Material is abundant and in many instances readily 

 obtainable ; the appearance of several successive generations in the course of a 

 summer is a further desirable feature ; and, lastly, considerable literature on the 

 spermatogenesis of insects is available for suggestive and comparative study. 



Although I have relied in the main upon the efficacy of the osmic mixtures, 

 Flemming's and Hermann's fluids for the best preservation of animal tissues, 

 and of weak chromo-acetic for plants, no particular fixing agent can be relied 

 upon for universal satisfaction. However, it seemed undesirable to consume 

 much time during the collecting season in sectioning material and testing the 

 relative merits of various reagents ; consequently I have selected some three or 

 four generally reliable fixatives, and wherever possible presen-ed such quantities 

 of germ plasm in each of these that sufficient material for study may be ob- 

 tained from any one that may later be found superior to the others. In order 

 to insure the best results, I have hastened most of my objects through the 

 grades of alcohol and into paraffin as rapidly as possible after fixation. 



It is naturally to be anticipated that much of the work of the cytologist will 

 apparently come to naught, as it may be presupposed that the chromosomes of 

 closely related forms in the vast majority of cases will be found similar in size, 

 shape, and number ; but work will be continued independently and in connec- 

 tion with the experiments being carried on by other members of the staff, and 

 if from among many failures an occasional result may be obtained which will 

 throw new light upon the question of inheritance, the reward will be ample. 



PUBLICATIONS. 



The results of the resident staff and associates of the station are 

 to be published, it is expected, in the form of a series of studies 

 under the general title " Scientific Results of the Station for Experi- 

 mental Evolution." Already two papers, the first exclusively by 

 an associate, Dr. W. E. Castle, and the second by another associate. 

 Dr. MacDougal, in conjunction with Dr. George H. Shull and others, 

 are ready for the printer. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 



The station has a number of gifts to acknowledge in addition to 

 many offers of assistance, some of which have already been taken 

 advantage of. We have already referred to the supreme gift of the 

 valuable land from the Wawepex Societ)-. 



From Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, three of his multinipple sheep. 



From Dr. O. L. Jones, building sand and gravel. 



From David Jones and Charles Jones, scientific books from the library of the 



late Edmund Jones. 

 From Mr. Timothy Tread well, East Williston, one Hampshire Down ram at 



one-fourth value. 

 From P. Blackiston's Son & Co., publishers, two text-books on embryology. 

 From American Museum of Natural History, set of bulletins. 



