Behaviour changes inDrosophila melanogasterin the choice of colored substrates for oviposition

D. melanogaster females that had been reared from egg to adult on a colored medium preferred to oviposit on the same color when given a choice of four colors in a population cage. Tests performed with the colors red and blue demonstrated that newborn females were conditioned by visual stimuli when the red was used. Evidence about the nature of the stimuli, whether olfactory or visual, was inconclusive when the blue was used.