The incidental malignant melanoma.

village (28 May, p v). The population was given as about 6000, and it might have been construed by young doctors reading the advertisement that there was a potential practice list of 6000; this of course was not so-as all these patients were on the existing lists of doctors in surrounding practices. The publication of the advertisement caused extreme embarrassment to the administrative staff and members of the Leicestershire Family Practitioner Committee and indeed to the officers and members of the Leicestershire Local Medical Committee, none of whom knew anything about it. Quite a number of doctors applied to the Family Practitioner Committee for further details of the practice vacancy, which did not in fact exist. We regret that this misleading advertisement was published and sincerely hope that the incident will have alerted the BMJ to take particular care in checking advertisements for general practice vacancies coming from unusual sources. G F E EDMONDSON-JONES Honorary secretary