Figure 1.

(A) Mortality rate for Japanese females (1891/98, thin line; 1935–36, medium line, 1990, thick line), Swedish males, 1990 (dashes), 605,528 female medflies in cages (circles), 10,741 in individual cups (crosses), and 121,894 male Drosophilas in cages (stars). Twenty-six medflies in cages and 53 in cups lived beyond 120 days, to 171 and 241 days respectively (see Fig. 1B); cf. the ratio of the maximal and the mean (thick vertical lines) lifespans for humans and medflies. Mortality rate is calculated according to q_x = ℓn(N_x/N_x+1), where N_x is the number of survivors to the age x (years for humans and days for flies). (B–D) Inverse relative number of survivors (N₈₅/N_x) to a given age (x) in days for medfly females (+, □, O), males (X, □, O), and all medflies (⋄, Δ, Δ) in cups, cells, and cages respectively; for male Drosophilas in cages (∗) and 5,751 (inbred ones in Fig. 1B only) in vials (♦) on semilogarithmic (B), linear (C), and quadratic (D) scales. For clarity, data beyond the age with reliable statistics in C and D, and before the linear region for medflies in cups in D, are dropped out. Solid lines are linear interpolations. Note that many data points overlap.