Under the stimulus of the data collected by the Evian HLA Workshop, we have started a) a new approach of the theoretical bases of evolutionary analysis and are developing new methods which we apply on the HLA data and the more vast material available for other genes in the literature. We also plan to study b) the effects of early introduction of agriculture on diffusion of genes, and c) correlations with ecological conditions. We are working both at the metholological level and on data analysis. Among our aims: a) the theory and metholology of reconstruction of evolution from present day data (phylogenetic analysis in taxonomic problems); b) the clarification of the effects of drift and of selection and their relative importance in reconstructing evolution; c) the reconciliation of different methods of multivariate analysis used in taxonomy, e.g. by trees and by principal components; and d) the production and interpretation of gene maps, including those of some genetic diseases.