Abstract
The following evidence has been accumulated in this study of the sex ratio ( SR) condition in Drosophila bifasciata: A distinct cytopathology is present in dying males. An infectious material is isolable from the ovaries of SR females. This material, injected into normal healthy hosts, significantly alters the sex ratios of the injected flies and their progenies. Therefore, in view of these transfer-experiment results and the distinctive cytopathology previously described, it is postulated that the SR condition in D. bifasciata is due to an infectious agent exhibiting many viral characteristics: submicroscopic size, intracellular site, nucleopathic effects when multiplying, contagious spread by cell lysis, and affinity for neural and epidermal tissues. The SR agent resembles the sigma virus of Drosophila melanogaster with a stabilized strain, SR, and non-stabilized strains, “ia” and “ib.” Most of the normal flies tested appear to be refractory; the transferred condition is difficult to establish and maintain.
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