Abstract
FOR some years past I have been occupied with the experimental study of duration of life. Nine papers dealing with the subject have appeared in the American Naturalist (vols. 55–58). The particular suitability of Drosophila melanogaster for the experimental study of this problem arises chiefly from three considerations: (1) The duration of life of this fly in days is very nearly the same as that of man in years, and the form of the life curve over the biologically equivalent life span is almost precisely identical in the two forms; (2) Drosophila can be easily and successfully grown under controlled laboratory conditions, by means of a technique in many respects the same as that used in the cultivation of bacteria; (3) the genetics of Drosophila have been more completely worked out, thanks to Morgan and his collaborators, than in the case for any other organism whatever.
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PEARL, R. Starvation Life Curves. Nature 113, 854 (1924). https://doi.org/10.1038/113854a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/113854a0
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