318 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



lived individuals holding off until the age of 10 or even 

 13 days, as if *' waiting" to be fertilized. 



Oviposition, it seems, is regulated by physiological 

 conditions of the individuals, but the table shows that 

 the short-lived insects deposit unfertilized eggs at an 

 earlier age than the long-lived ones. 



7. THE EELATION OF DUEATION OF LIFE^ TIME SPENT IN 



COPULO AND AGE OF FEMALE AT TIME OF MATING, TO 



THE NUMBER OF EGGS RETAINED AT DEATH. 



(a) Relatioyi of duration of life to eggs retained. 



A careful examination of the data shows that there 

 is absolutely no relation between long life and perfect 

 oviposition, and short life and imperfect oviposition. 

 One would naturally think that the long-lived insects 

 would have ample time to lay all their eggs, while, per- 

 haps, the short-lived moths could only partially oviposit, 

 but this does not seem to be the case. The proportions 

 of cases of complete and incomplete oviposition are about 

 equal in the long and short-lived groups. In the 1909 

 notes the conclusion that such a correlation existed in 

 the unmated females was based upon an altogether in- 

 sufficient number of observations — only 4 against the 28 

 of this year. Among the 52 mated females of this year 

 no relation was ascertained between long life and per- 

 fect oviposition. 



(b) Time spent in coptdo and eggs retained. 



The 1909 conclusions are confirmed in this year's evi- 

 dence that a longer or shorter period of copulation does 

 not influence the number of eggs deposited or the num- 

 ber retained after death. 



