276 JORDAN. [Vol. VIII, 



individual to extend is four weeks, but in this case the ovaries 

 still retained large pigmented eggs, and under perfectly normal 

 conditions egg-laying would undoubtedly have continued for 

 some time longer. The appearance of the ovaries of freshly 

 captured females which I examined at frequent intervals 

 throughout the laying season fully justifies this view. 



The largest number of eggs that I have observed a single 

 female to lay in captivity is shown in the following table : — 



Eggs laid by one female. 



In this particular instance the female was not in company with 

 a male after the 24th April, yet she continued, for nineteen 

 days after her separation, to lay eggs that developed normally. 

 If she had been under perfectly natural conditions it is proba- 

 ble that she would have still continued to lay, since her ovaries 

 were tolerably well filled with large pigmented eggs. It will 

 be noticed that the number of eggs — ninety-six — laid after 

 separation from the male is considerably larger than that 

 observed by Gage who found indications "that for a single 

 mating about six eggs may be internally fertilized, about the 

 number found in the oviducts at one time." ('91, p. 1091). 

 Numerous other observations corroborate my figures above. 

 Furthermore, I have reason to think, as I shall state in the 

 sequel (p. 309), that fertilization of the eggs does not take place 

 in the oviducts. When egg-laying ceases prematurely it seems 

 to me that it must be for other reasons than lack of male 

 elements, since the supply of spermatozoa in the receptaculum 

 is practically inexhaustible. It docs not seem to me necessary 

 that more than one mating should occur in a single season, but 

 I agree with Gage that in a state of nature several matings of 

 the same female may and frequently do take place. 



