| Description | Correspondence relating to the Royal Society's awards from the Darwin Research Fund to Charles Elton in 1931 and 1935 for his study of wild vole populations in Great Britain, and the rejected application for an additional grant in 1939.
Correspondents include Professor Edwin Stephen Goodrich; Henry Hallet Dale, Secretary of the Royal Society; Archibald Vivian Hill, Secretary of the Royal Society; Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; Charles Elton; Mr Goldie, Meteorological Office; Martin Alister Campbell Hinton, Deputy Keeper of Zoology, British Museum; PP Laidlow; Professor Major Greenwood; Sir Henry George Lyons, Royal Society Treasurer; Felix Eugen Fritsch; Professor James Gray.
Includes discussion of the Goodrich's application for the grant to be awarded to Elton in 1931; the award of £500 per annum for four years to support Elton's work, with an additional £250 in the first year for laboratory and field equipment; the system of administration of the grant, with an exception made to the usual system of quarterly payments following an appeal from Elton; the payment of instalments; progress reports, agreed to be provided annually; whether the funds may be used to pay a laboratory attendant responsible for live role stocks, 30 November-9 December 1932; brief summary of the first year's work setting up observation stations, 21 February 1933; a short report on the progress of the investigation, 1932-1933; the transfer of Mr Davis from work on voles to work part-time for the Ministry of Agriculture on Foot and Mouth Disease Research, with deductions made from his Royal Society salary to be used to extend the vole work, January 1935; variation of atmospheric circulation across Scotland, 30 March 1935; Eton's application for a further grant from 1 January 1936; Martin Hinton's view that no important results have come from Elton's study, with the scheme being unsound, the delivery of animals to him in an advanced state of decomposition due to poor instructions, and his suspicion that there will be 'many years of groping in the darkness', 28 May 1935; Laidlow's suggestion of a close liaison between the Bureau of Animal Population and the Department of Pathology in the University of Oxford, 31 May 1935; the award of £400 from the Darwin Fund for only one year due to criticisms made by Hinton, 25 June 1935; planned cooperation with the William Dunn School of Pathology, under the direction of Professor H Florey, 26 June 1935; Elton's request for permission to use an accumulated surplus to continue his work in the winter of 1936 and spring of 1937; a request for a further grant, 1939, with the joint advice of the Botany and Zoology sectional committees requested and including a draft letter to members of both committees; a letter from Elton explaing the purpose of his progress report, 20 February 1939; Hinton's view that the Darwin Fund ought not be used for Elton's work, 24 March 1939 and discussion of the committees' recommendations; Professor Greenwood's impression of Elton's report, including criticism of its 'jaunty tone' and 'lack of focus', with additional notes by Dr J O Irwin, summarising that the undertaking is worthwhile, but that it may be better for someone other than Elton to have more influence on the planning of the study and preparation of reports, 4 May 1939; announcement from Elton that the results of his work have been published by the Clarendon Press in 'Voles, mice and lemmings: problems in population dynamics', 24 February 1942.
Also contains a memorandum entitled 'Scheme of research upon wild vole populations in Great Britain', 16 June 1931; Statement of expenditure, 1 October 1931-30 September 1932; Statement of expenditure, 1 October 1932-30 September 1933; study report for the year ending 30 September 1936; Progress report on vole investigations 1931-1936, 18 February 1939. |