Abstract
Gause and Witt1 give as necessary conditions for the coexistence of two species living in the same microcosm α K1/K2 and β>K2/K1. The two species of Drosophila coexist even though there is a “strong mutual depression”. For example, the sizes of D. pseudoobscura AR and of D. serrata are 252 and 278 flies respectively in the competing populations; in populations of single species their respective sizes are 664 and 1,251 flies. This result warrants the rejection of the principle of competitive exclusion, “two species competing for limiting resources can only coexist if they inhibit the growth of the competing species less than they inhibit their own growth”. Similarly this experimental result warrants the rejection of the competition equations from which the necessary conditions for coexistence stated above are derived.
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