Abstract
AbstractGibberellic acid is a necessary dietary constituent for normal fast maturation in the desert locust. Diets short of gibberellins, such as senescent vegetation, produce a state of adult diapause. The synthetic plant growth retardant (2‐chloroethyl)‐trimethylammonium chloride (CCC), either injected into locusts or fed to them as a separate dietary constituent, inhibits meiosis and so retards or prevents sexual maturation. Once this stage of gametogenesis has passed (late in nymphal life) CCC appears to have no further effect, but a single injection just before the onset of meiosis will sterilise locusts completely. Cotton stainers provided with a solution of CCC in their drinking water during the same period of larval life show impaired reproductive function and produce deformed offspring. CCC acts directly upon the insects, quite apart from any secondary effect produced by the altered physiology of the food plant.
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