March 21, 1961

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Or. Peter H. A. Sneath
National Institute for Medical Research
London, N.W. 7, ENGLAND

Dear Peter:

{ will try to answer one particular point you raised In your
letter. 1 don't know very much more that | can point to about ep!somes,
beyond what you already know about. Hirota's work was In rather difficult
shape as far as trying to get a coherent publication out of it - particularly
in view of anticipation of much of the more sallent matertal by Adelberg and
Co. if we could have had considerably more time together, we might have
straightened this out. So | have recommended to Hirota that to guard
against completely losing the drift of this material, that he prepare his
own texts for publication in the Japanese literature. In any event, !
suggest that you simply write to him directly for any references. His
address Is the Department of Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Osaka Univer-
sity, Osaka, Japan.

! certainly agree with you about the grasshoppers - there would not
be very much point In going into them unless they were really quite old.
How can you date the several centurles antiquity of the sofl samples you
ment lon?

Yours cordially,

Joshua Lederberg
Professor of Genetics