BULLETIN FLORIDA STATE MUSEUM


variation. For example, the second peak of lactation occurs in July-
September for A. jamaicensis and A. phaeotis, but not until
September-November for the larger A. lituratus.
 All canopy frugivores are reproductively quiescent in the late wet
 season. Females of small species appear inactive from October through
 December. The two largest species of the guild appear reproductively
 inactive from mid-October through December, at least by external
 signs, but histological preparations (Fleming 1971) indicate that A.
 jamaicensis females are in early stages of pregnancy with drastically
 slowed embryonic growth occurring in these months. Whether other
 species also pass through a period of delayed development at the end
 of the wet season is not known. Nevertheless, the energy channeled in-
 to reproduction by canopy frugivores is markedly reduced during the
 late wet season, a time of fruit scarcity.


 Artibeus jamaicensis

 [J Nulliparous T?
 0 that have given birth
 80-

 40 17
 20
 few data 71

 90-
 90 iD Pregnant
 0- Prnant Nonreproducing
4 80- Lactating

 70-
0
 60-
0
 50-

U 40-
u 0ii~


 J-M M-M M-J J-S S-N N-J
 N= 58 92 53 59 82 23

FIGURE 12.-Reproductive timing in female Artibeus jamaicensis.


Vol. 24, No. 4