22 



CHESTER A. STEWART. 



Since this difference in degree of stimulation might possibly be 

 due to the fact that Seland's animals suffered a more severe star- 

 vation than mine, it was decided to starve my rats more severely 

 than had previously been done. The test rats of litter 823 were 

 therefore subjected to starvation for three days, and the test 

 rats of litter 824 for four days. They were then abundantly fed 

 for 15 and 20 days respectively, but still failed to exceed the 

 controls in body weight, and showed no tendency to do so. Noe 

 ('oo) noted little or no over-compensation in body weight in rats 

 refed after repeated periods of starvation. 



TABLE III. 



THE AVERAGE DAILY Loss IN GRAMS IN MALE ALBINO RATS FOLLOWING 

 REPEATED SEVERE STARVATION. 



Later the test rats of these two litters (823 and 824) were used 

 to investigate another point. Kahan ('85) observed that in 

 pigeons the daily average loss in weight increased with each 

 repeated fast involving a loss of 30 to 45 per cent, of the initial 

 body weight. My data (Table III.) show practically no tendency 

 for the daily loss in body weight to increase in rats in repeated 

 severe starvation periods. In fact the average loss for rats 

 Nos. 97 and 98 was slightly less during the second fast than during 

 the first, which suggests that possibly their power to resist star- 

 vation had been increased. The difference between my results 

 and those obtained by Kahan may be due to the fact that his 

 animals were more severely starved than mine. It is also prob- 

 able that different species, as well as different individuals of the 

 same species, may react differently in this respect. 



Following the periods of severe starvation the amount of 

 food eaten daily by the rats above mentioned, and their resultant 

 weight, were carefully observed. During the first four days of 



