Letter: In Brief

Sir: Chicks have been made to grow rudimentary clawed legs instead of wings ("Scientists make four-legged hens", 12 March). Scientists in America took a gene found in legs and transferred it to the wings of chicken embryos, causing feathers to vanish and the beginnings of clawed fingers to appear.

May I send my congratulations for their double discovery? Not only have they found the gene which produces four-legged poultry, but at the same time they have identified the one which has made me completely sick.

H E PAYNE

Southwell, Nottinghamshire