(357) 
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE LABORA- 
TORIES . 
Dr. N. L. Britton, Drrectror-in-CulEF. 
Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report for 
the year 1908. 
During the greater part of the year the laboratories were 
under the supervision of Dr. C. S. Gager, assisted by Miss 
Winifred J. Robinson, the former having left the institution 
in August,* and the latter on September 5, 1908. My own 
duties as director of laboratories were assumed on September 
5, and thus far the work has been carried on without special 
assistance. 
With the permission of the Garden, the experimental work 
on primroses, which had been conducted by Dr. Gager during 
the year, was allowed to continue through the growing sea- 
son and collections of seeds and other materials sent to him 
in the autumn in order that this experimental work, which 
must be continued through several seasons, might be carried 
on to its completion. 
On taking up my duties here, the laboratories, laboratory 
equipment and student records were found in good condition, 
and since that time no important changes have been made. 
However, some minor changes were made necessary by the 
expansion of the herbarium of cryptogamic botany and the 
consequent crowding of the laboratories into smaller quarters. 
The office formerly used by Dr. Gager is now occupied by 
Dr. Howe in order that he might be conveniently located with 
reference to the collections of algae, which have been trans- 
ferred to the main laboratory. My own office has been ar- 
ranged in a part of the room occupied also by Dr. Hollick, 
and is thus brought adjacent to the collections of fungi which 
are now installed in the room formerly used as a physiological 
laboratory. 
Some minor changes have also been made in the other labo- 
ratory rooms. The dark room has been converted into a 
* Resigned to accept professorship of botany in Missouri State University. 
