318 COMMITTEE REPORT 



number to be used when the charts are filed according to the 

 characteristics of the organisms. 



To avoid further misconception and to emphasize this particu- 

 lar use of the number, the present plan is to call the new form an 

 index number instead of a group number; to drop the generic 

 symbol before it and to put it in such a form that confusion with 

 the old group number will be impossible; and to see that all the 

 information called for in the index number is similarly recorded 

 elsewhere on the chart so that the description will be complete 

 if the student decides not to use the index number. By doing 

 this it is hoped to meet all the criticism that has been directed 

 against the group number. 



SPACE FOR RECORDING PATHOGENICITY 



Various cards have been devised with space for recording the 

 pathogenicity of an organism. Of these the best have merely 

 the heading pathogenicity followed by a blank space. This feat- 

 ure can very easily be included on the new chart, although this 

 space would be of no use in the case of saprophytic organisms. 

 On the other hand, non-pathogenic organisms generally must be 

 investigated by special tests for which blank space would be de- 

 sired ; and it seems a waste to leave separate blank spaces for both 

 sets of tests. For this reason, the foldephas an entire page blank 

 for notes, the idea being that it might be used to record patho- 

 genicity or the special tests made for non-pathogenic organisms. 

 As this use of the space does not seem to be understood by all 

 users of the chart, it is proposed on the revised chart to have a 

 space headed something like this: " Special Reactions and En- 

 vironmental Relationships (e.g., Pathogenesis)." 



METHODS 



When the 1914 card was prepared, the glossary and notes were 

 omitted from the back of it on the understanding that a pamphlet 

 was to be drawn up by the committee giving a glossary of terms 

 used on the chart and methods to be employed in making the 

 tests. After some unavoidable delay this pamphlet was finally 



