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Sixteen (27%) of 58 patients with psoriasis had low serum folate levels (<30 ng./ml.), 4 (7%) had subnormal red cell folate levels and 16 (27%) had hypersegmented polymorphs in the peripheral blood films. Folic acid absorption was normal in all 12 patients in whom it was tested. The folate concentrations in scale from psoriasis lesions, keratin from the uninvolved skin of psoriatic subjects, and in normal keratin from non-psoriatic subjects were 008, 0-32 and 014^g./G. respectively.The estimated folate loss in psoriatic scale was insufficient to account for folate deficiency. There was no correlation between the serum folate level and the duration or extent of clinical psoriasis. It therefore appears that the high incidence of mild folate deficiency in psoriasis is due to increased utilization of folate by the process and by clinically uninvolved psoriatic skin.

SUMMARY.— Serial biopsies have been performed on psoriatic lesions from the forearm in 13 patients in whom the lesions were occluded with plastic occlusive dressings for 2 weeks, and in 13 control psoriatic subjects. A complete granular layer was not present in the occluded or control lesions prior td the study. In the occluded lesions a complete layer developed in 25 of the subsequent 65 biopsies but in only 2 of the 65 biopsies in the control group. In 10 of the 13 subjects the occluded lesions showed a complete granular layer at some stage during occlusion, although the time when it first appeared was variable. In 4 of these 10 patients the granular layer became incomplete after reformation during the period of study. Mitotic counts of the occluded psoriatic lesions showed a slight but significant fall at the end of the 2‐week period but this did not occur in the control lesions. There was no significant depression of the mitotic count at the time when the granular layer first reformed. It is suggested that plastic occlusive dressings have some effect on psoriasis, and possible mechanisms of action are discussed.

SUMMARY. One hundred consecutive coloured and 100 consecutive white European (light skinned causasoids—LSC) patients were examined to determine the incidence of buccal pigmentation. In the coloured patients it was 38% and in the LSC patients 5%. In these 5 LSC patients general examination and investigation revealed none of the disorders usually associated with buccal pigmentation, which cannot therefore be regarded as necessarily a sign of systemic disease, notably Addison's disease. In coloured patients the presence of buccal pigmentation is rarely of diagnostic significance.

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