ON ASSIMILATION IN PLANTS, 611 
Assimilation in Plants.—Interim Report of the Committee, consisting 
of Mr. Francis Darwin (Chairman), Professor J. R. GREEN (Secre- 
tary), and Professor MarRsHALL WarD, appointed to conduct an 
Experimental Investigation of Assimilation in Plants. 
Tue Committee beg to report that they have expended two-thirds of the 
201. placed at their disposal, and they request that they may be re- 
appointed with a view to the expenditure of the balance. 
The grant has been mainly devoted to aiding Mr. Blackman in the 
construction of an expensive apparatus for the investigation of assimi- 
lation, which is now complete ; and it is proposed to allot to him the 
remainder of the sum for the continuation of his researches. These have 
been in progress for some time’; they deal with the sources of the carbon 
dioxide of leaf assimilation ; with the respiration of the stem as dis- 
tinguished from the leaf ; with the magnitude of the absorption of carbon 
dioxide from the soil ; and with kindred problems, of which a preliminary 
account was given by Mr. Blackman at the Bristol meeting. The many 
ways in which these various factors interact on one another make it 
desirable not to publish the detailed investigations of one before those of 
the others are completed. It is expected, however, that the results will 
be ready for publication in the course of the coming year. 
