RELATIONSHIP OF AGE OVARIAN DEVELOPMENT AND CORPUS ALLATUM TO MATING IN HOUSE-FLY MUSCA DOMESTICA

Mating in the housefly, Musca domestica (L.), was correlated with the stage of ovarian development. Females with stage 3 and 4 ovaries rarely mated, but mating increased from 29·0 per cent in females with stage 5 ovaries to 97·0 per cent in females with stage 10 ovaries. When they were given a choice, males preferred females with ovaries in stages 6 to 10 for mating. Females that were allatectomized when they were 48 hr old or younger demonstrated both an inhibition of ovarian development and mating. The corpus allatum was activated in 100 per cent of the female population held at 21·7 ± 1°C after 60 hr. Ovariectomized females mated normally but tended to remate more frequently than the controls. Since topical application of 2·5 μg of the synthetic juvenile hormone stimulated mating and ovarian development, it was concluded that juvenile hormone stimulated both ovarian maturation and mating in the housefly and that the correlation between mating and ovarian development was caused by a response to the titre of this hormone. © 1969.