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This short monograph is a comprehensive summary of the literature concerning adolescent sterility. From the assembled data the author concludes that the adolescent female is biologically immature, and developmentally unprepared for the processes of reproduction. The data with regard to the lower animals and primates are well presented, and conclusive, and indicate without question that under normal circumstances the ability to conceive does not occur until a variable period after the appearance of overt evidence of maturity. In the human being the strongest evidence is of an anthropologic nature, and is compiled from the mass of literature dealing with races and tribes in which sexual intercourse at an early age is not only common, but acceptable. Extensive data concerning the age of the menarche in these people are presented; biologic statistics in these groups indicate that despite frequent intercourse the first pregnancy ordinarily does not occur for a significant period