Volume of Protein meals taken by females of the blowfly, Lucilia cuprina: ovarian development‐related and direct effects of protein ingestion

The effect of the stage of ovarian development on the volumes of meals of the protein‐rich material, liver exudate, taken by females of the blowfly, L. cuprina (Wiedemann), was examined using an experimental regime which was designed to isolate the effects of ovarian development from any other more direct effects of protein feeding or deprivation. It was found that volumes of meals taken by females with developing ovaries were little, if any, smaller than the volumes taken by protein‐deprived females until quite late in vitellogenesis, at which stage meal size fell abruptly to that of meals taken by gravid females. A direct effect of protein‐feeding was also demonstrated, with females that had consumed exudate during the previous few hours taking substantially smaller meals than those that had not done so. This effect was, however, shown to be non‐specific in that the recent consumption of an equal volume of concentrated sucrose solution caused a similar reduction in the volume of exudate taken.