1973] 
Ramousse — A raneus diadematus 
35 
female weight increase which continues after the last molt, possibly 
due to egg formation. The mean weight was : 
set I set II 
FG 
62.95 mg 
57.64 mg 
SG 
88.52 mg 
70.23 mg 
The maximum weight reached by the FG males, in both sets, was 
lower than for the SG males. This suggests that the maximum 
weight may be a function of the duration of development. In that 
case, rapid maturation would occur at the expense of weight growth. 
No correlation between initial weight and final weight was found 
in contrast to the findings of Benforado and Kistler (1972). A 
relatively small difference in initial weights and the low accuracy of 
the weights may explain the contrast. 
Mating 
The FG males of set I matured 81.6 days post-hatching (p-h.) 
and those of set II 78.0 days p-h. The FG females reached ma- 
turity 229 days p-h. in set I and 104 days p-h. in set II. In the 
first set all the FG males were dead before any of the FG females 
were mature, preventing them from mating. In the second set, the 
FG males survived 71 days after the last molt, so that some of them 
were still alive when the first FG females matured. But the females 
accepted the advances of the males only 60 days or more after the 
last molt, preventing the FG males from mating with their sisters. 
In summary, the FG males of both sets were sexually mature too 
early to mate with any of the females of the same set. 
The SG males reached maturity 202 days p-h. in set I and 163 
days p-h. in set II. At this time the FG females of set II were 
already mature (104 days p-h.) and those of set I were almost ma- 
ture (229 days p-h.), as well as the SG females of set II (223 p-h.). 
In these conditions the SG males of both sets may have been able to 
mate with the FG females of their own set or the other set. 
Each of the nine SG males, when they were an average of 300 
days p-h., were brought into the presence of three different females. 
All the males seemed to behave in the same way, but only three of 
them mated successfully with a single female, and one with two 
different females. These successful males were the biggest of the 
SG males. One male of each set was able to mate with a female of 
