SELECTION FOR INCREASED LONGEVITY IN DROSOPHILA-MELANOGASTER - REFLECTIONS ON NEW DATA

In recent papers, new data were presented on the late-age reproduction experiment initiated by Luckinbill and Clare in 1981: when early- and late-reproduced lines were compared simultaneously 10 years after the end of the original experiment, differences in the mean life span are observed between the lines. Yet the conditions in which these measure ments were done are highly questionable. More fundamentally, using the se data, the analysis of the selection process is impossible and concl usions about the determinism of life span are debatable.