166 
Crews 
I |non-receptive 
^^^ONSET OF 
iiiiaRECEPTIVITY 
RECEPTIVE 
Figure 12. Schematic diagram of the relationship between maturation and ovulation of the ovarian follicle 
and female sexual receptivity during the breeding season in the lizard, Anolis carolinensis (redrawn from 
Crews, 19736). 
way that corresponds to these cyclic ovarian 
changes. 
Coition-induced inhibition of 
female sexual receptivity 
During the course of the above study, I dis- 
covered that, if a sexually receptive female 
was allowed to copulate with a sexually ac- 
tive male, she was no longer receptive when 
retested 24 hours later. However, if that 
female was retested several weeks later, she 
was found to be receptive once again. This 
suggested that mating might serve to inhibit 
further sexual receptivity within each follicu- 
lar cycle, but not later sexual receptivity 
during subsequent cycles. 
While coital inhibition of receptivity in 
reptiles has not been demonstrated previ- 
ously, several studies have suggested its 
existence (Crews, 1975c). For example, in 
their classic work on the social behavior of 
A. carolinensis, Greenberg and Noble (1944) 
observed that one female “mated on April 13 
but ran twice from the male during the same 
day and did not mate again until April 27” 
(pp. 401-402). Similarly, in a field study of 
A. garmani, R. L. Trivers (personal com- 
munication) observed that females that were 
allowed to copulate undisturbed were not 
seen to copulate again for at least another 
month. If, however, copulation was experi- 
mentally interrupted, the female continued 
to be receptive until completion of copulation. 
Hunsaker (1962) has also reported observa- 
tions which suggest that stimuli arising from 
intromission terminate receptivity in lizards. 
He noted that reproductively active female 
Sceloporus (torqnatus group) continued to 
