Data on mean survival times for starvation tolerance under highly wet conditions and desiccation tolerance at zero percent humidity revealed significant differences for four Indian geographical populations of D. melanogaster. The genetic control of these physiological traits was ascertained from the occurrence of little differences between two successive generations of various isofemale lines of D. melanogaster populations. The north Indian populations of D.melanogster revealed significant higher tolerance for desiccation as compared with the southern populations. On the contrary, for starvation tolerance, under humid conditions, the survival values of the southern populations were found to be significantly higher than that of north Indian populations. It can be argued that the south Indian populations of D. melanogaster which lived in a hot and humid environment throughout the year were poorly protected against desiccation but displayed higher starvation tolerance due to steady metabolic rate at increased ambient temperature. Thus, Indian geographical populations of D. melanogaster revealed adaptively maintained genetic divergence for starvation and desiccation tolerance.