Estimation of the individual number entering each development stage in an insect population

Summary A method for estimating the number entering each development stage from data obtained by regular sampling through one generation of an insect population was described. This method is consisted of the following two procedures: The provisional estimates are calculated on the assumption that each stage has a common mortality in a sampling interval. Then these estimates are corrected on another assumption that the mortality is different in each stage but constant during a stage. The result of testing its validity with two laboratory populations of the common cabbage butterfly,Pieris rapae crucivora, showed the availability of the present method.