ACCUMULATION OF CORPORA UP TO ATTAINMENT OF PHYSICAL MATURITY 391 



At the overlap there are 3 1 physically mature females with 14 corpora or less and 23 immature females 



with 15 corpora or more. Considering these 54 individuals as a normal frequency distribution with a 



mean value corresponding to the average number of corpora at the threshold of physical maturity, the 



O 70 



z 



APPROACHING MATURITY 



HTm 



10 



IS 20 25 



NUMBER OF CORPORA 



40 



Text-fig. 25. Smoothed curve showing increase in body length with increasing corpora number, together 

 with frequency distributions of corpora numbers at progressive stages of epiphysial fusion. 



IOO 



>• 

 o 



z 



Ul 



z> 50 



O 



ui 



a. 



u. 



PHYSICALLY IMMATURE 

 PHYSICALLY MATURE 



10 



15 20 25 30 35 



NUMBER OF CORPORA 



50 



Text-fig. 26. Smoothed frequency distributions of corpora numbers in physically 

 immature and physically mature females. 



mean is 14-0 with a standard deviation of 3-94. This is slightly lower than the value at the intersection 

 point (14-3) and is influenced by the effect of mortality on the populations from which the sample is 

 taken. The effect of mortality would be to steepen the right-hand part and to decrease the slope of the 

 left-hand part (as in Text-fig. 27), so that the intersection point is a slightly better indication of the 

 mean number of corpora on the attainment of physical maturity. A further confirmation of the close- 



