[The effect of temperature on the reproductive function of female crabs, Pachygrapsus marmoratus (Fabricius)].

The ovaries of females kept at 15 degrees C in the beginning of autumn, develop the next spring but in most of the crabs maintained at 25 degrees C these glands are still in previtellogenesis at that time. On the contrary, the ovarian development of eyestalkless animals is favoured by a high temperature. The inhibiting pedoncular hormone would then be ordered by the temperature. From the results obtained, it seems that the ovary does not order the appearance of sexual periodic characters.