48.

Parasitic wasps lay their eggs directly into the eggs of various host insects in exactly the right numbers for any suitable size of host egg.If they laid too many eggs in a host egg, the developing wasp larvae would compete with each other to the death for nutrients and space.If too few eggs were laid, portions of the host egg would decay, killing the wasp larvae.

Which of the following conclusions can properly be drawn from the information above?

(A) The size of the smallest host egg that a wasp could theoretically parasitize can be determined from the wasp's egg-laying behavior.

(B) Host insects lack any effective defenses against the form of predation practiced by parasitic wasps.

(C) Parasitic wasps learn from experience how many eggs to lay into the eggs of different host species.

(D) Failure to lay enough eggs would lead to the death of the developing wasp larvae more quickly than would laying too many eggs.

(E) Parasitic wasps use visual clues to calculate the size of a host egg.