finalpartofeachnumericalintegration，whichspansseveralgyr.thesolidlinesdenotingthepresentorbitsoftheplanetsliealmostwithintheswarmofdotseveninthefinalpartofintegrations(b)and(d).thisindicatesthatthroughouttheentireintegrationperiodthealmostregularvariationsofplanetaryorbitalmotionremainnearlythesameastheyareatpresent. verticalviewofthefourinnerplanetaryorbits(fromthez-axisdirection)attheinitialandfinalpartsoftheintegrationsn±-planeissettotheinvariantplaneofsolarsystemtotalangularmomentum.(a)theinitialpartofn+1(t=0to0.0547x109yr).(b)thefinalpartofn+1(t=4.9339x108to4.9886x109yr).(c)theinitialpartofn?1(t=0to?0.0547x109yr).(d)thefinalpartofn?1(t=?3.9180x109to?3.9727x109yr).ineachpanel，atotalof23684pointsareplottedwithanintervalofabout2190yrover5.47x107yr.solidlinesineachpaneldenotethepresentorbitsofthefourterrestrialplanets(takenfromde245). thevariationofeccentricitiesandorbitalinclinationsfortheinnerfourplanetsintheinitialandfinalpartoftheintegrationn+1isshowninfig.4.asexpected，thecharacterofthevariationofplanetaryorbitalelementsdoesnotdiffersignificantlybetweentheinitialandfinalpartofeachintegration，atleastforvenus，earthandmars.theelementsofmercury，especiallyitseccentricity，seemtochangetoasignificantextent.thisispartlybecausetheorbitaltime-scaleoftheplanetistheshortestofalltheplanets，whichleadstoamorerapidorbitalevolutionthanotherplanets;theinnermostplanetmaybenearesttoinstability.thisresultappearstobeinsomeagreementwithlaskar's(1994，1996)expectationsthatlargeandirregularvariationsappearintheeccentricitiesandinclinationsofmercuryonatime-scaleofseveral109yr.however，theeffectofthepossibleinstabilityoftheorbitofmercurymaynotfatallyaffecttheglobalstabilityofthewholeplanetarysystemowingtothesmallmassofmercury.wewillmentionbrieflythelong-termorbitalevolutionofmercurylaterinsection4usinglow-passfilteredorbitalelements. theorbitalmotionoftheouterfiveplanetsseemsrigorouslystableandquiteregularoverthistime-span(seealsosection5). 3.2time–frequencymaps m.xiＡＰＥ.ｃＯｍ