Errors of measurement of maximum possible performance

Resumen

In a previous paper, the author attempted to measure the máximum possible forcé which individual passalid beetles could exert between their mandibles. This was done by the rough-and- ready method of encouraging each individual beetle to nip ten times on a dynamometer and counting the strongest of the ten nips as representativa of the greatest forcé that the beetle could ever possibly exert in the cir- cumstances; this latter will be callad the ‘ultímate performance’ in this paper. Clearly this measurement, the greatest performance of the ten triáis, falls somewhat short of the ultímate performance, and in this paper attempts are made to estímate that shortfall.