762 PONTIFICIAE ACADEMIAE SCIENTIARVM SCRIPTA VARIA - 28 A process of this type can be labelled a « quasi stationary process ». It is characterised by the invariance of the rates p and i and of the characteristic functions © and 9. The fact that 7 and p are constant and the functions © and 9 variant enable the formulas obtained for the case of a quasi- stationary process with variable growth rates to be still further simplified. Characteristic Functions I31. From the relation (112-2) and the fact that 9 is inva- riant, we deduce that (131-1) d6 — —0O 74 i.e. the production period ® is constant. Further, from (111-6) we have (131-2) ©(8)R,({)=R, (#)e(0)6°° and this enables the two conditions below to be deduced from relations (111-3) and (111-4) (131-3) (I3I-4) R;(t)=R._(£)) 2°00) do R (t;=R_1 [Te 8 © (e)de [11] Allais - pag. 66