1964] 
Roth — Reproduction in Cockroaches 
21 1 
Table 3 — Effect of starvation and delayed exposure to males on receptivity 
of L. maderae following parturition 
Treatment after parturition^ 
Number used 
and percent 
mating 
Days to mate 
after exposure to 
males 
(Mean ± S. E.) 
With food and males 
N 
25 
% 
92 
1.2 ± 0.2 
With food but isolated from 
males for 7-8 days, then starved 
and exposed to males 
26 
23 
Starved and isolated from males 
for 7-8 days, then with food and 
males 
24 
92** 
1.4 ± 0.4 
U Food for all groups was lab chow; all groups had been fed during 
gestation. 
* The 6 females that mated did so immediately or within a few hours 
after being with males; their oocytes averaged 2.84 ± 0.35 mm. Fifteen 
of the 20 females that did not mate oviposited 16.1 ± 0.4 days after 
parturition (the exact time to oviposit of 5 females was not known). 
** The oocytes of the females that mated averaged 1.51 ± 0.10 mm. 
mated, whereas females whose oocytes were fairly large shortly after 
parturition tended to be unreceptive. This relationship was true for 
females which had two litters and had mated once or twice prior 
to the second parturition. Of 58 females that mated once, prior to 
the first oviposition, and were then exposed to males after having 
the second litter, only 9 (16%) mated again, and their oocytes meas- 
ured 1. 1 9 ± 0.06 mm. within 24 hr. after mating. The mean 
oviposition time after parturition for the 49 (84%) females that 
did not mate was 4.1 d= 0.3 days. Sixty-three females were mated 
twice (once prior to the first oviposition and once after giving birth 
to the first litter) and were exposed to males after the second parturi- 
tion. Thirty-two (51%) mated again and the oocytes of these 
females were 1.17 db 0.04 mm. long within 24 hr. after mating. 
The 31 (49%) females that were unreceptive and did not mate 
oviposited in 5.6 =+= 0.6 days, again indicating that their oocytes were 
well developed at the time of parturition; females that mate oviposit 
on an average of 9 days after giving birth (fig. 8, top). 
An analysis of the histories of 221 females that did or did not 
mate after parturition showed that females with longer gestation 
periods tended to be sexually unreceptive after they gave birth, 
whereas those with shorter gestation periods usually mated again 
