320 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 
the work itivolves a considerable amount of clerical assistance, for 
which at present no provision exists. Researches upon the following 
subjects have been completed by individual members of the Committee : 
(1) An analysis of the climatic conditions accompanying the 
incidence of epidemics of influenza in London in the past twenty years. 
(2) One of the Secretaries, Lieut.-Colonel Simpson, C.M.G., has 
published the results of his investigations of the ‘ Effects of Heat in 
the South African War.’ ! 
(3) The other Secretary, Mr. Barcroft, is now engaged on a study 
of certain conditions of the blood which influence respiration at high 
altitudes. These researches will be ready for publication, in part at 
all events, in the course of the ensuing year. 
The Committee desire that they should be reappointed, and they 
ask for a grant of 151. 
The Structure of Fossil Plants.—Interim Report of the Com- 
mittee, consisting of Dr. D. H. Scorr (Chairman), Professor 
F. W. Ouiver (Secretary), Mr. EK. A. NEWELL ARBER, and 
Professors A. C. Sewarp and F. E. WEIss. 
Most of the sections purchased are for Mr. H. H. Thomas’s work 
on the structure of the leaves of Calamites and Sphenophyllum. He is 
obtaining interesting results, and his paper on the Calamitean leaves is 
likely to appear shortly, that on the leaves of Sphenophyllum following 
later. Little work has been done hitherto on the anatomy of these 
organs, as shown in the English coal measure material, and this investi- 
gation is likely to prove of considerable value from the point of view of 
physiological as well as of morphological anatomy. 
The Experimental Study of Heredity.—Interim Report of the 
Committee, consisting of Mr. Francis Darwin (Chairman), 
Mr. A. G. TansuEy (Secretary), and Professors BATESON and 
KEEBLE. (Drawn up by Professor BATESON.) 
' My own experiments have consisted chiefly in continuation of the 
investigation of heredity in poultry, sweet peas, and some other subjects. 
Miss Saunders has been for the most part engaged in experiments on 
the inheritance of double flowers in stocks and in several other genera. 
Miss Killby has, as hitherto, assisted Miss Saunders in her work, and 
is undertaking a separate study of colour-inheritance in the annual 
phloxes. 
The results attained in these several researches will be published in 
due course. 
1 Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, March 1909. 
