226 A. ARVANITAKI AND N. CHALAZONITIS 



which are not necessarily different from those impHed in the stained axon 

 membrane. 



The above suggestions stand somewhat outside the traditional paths. They 

 are only tentatively put forward in order to devise useful frames for further 

 investigation. Much work will be necessary in order to ascertain whether they 

 do or do not offer the best way towards an explanation. Fluorescence studies 

 will prove relevant in order to acquire further precise data concerning time and 

 space resolution of the bioelectrical transitions in the sequence of events 

 initiated by the light. The nature of the mechanisms involved in the membrane 

 conductance changes which underly the generator depolarization and the 

 inhibitory hyperpolarization processes induced by the light are of outstanding 

 importance. Here again, the stained axon will prove a useful model for 

 experimentation. 



Whatever the mechanisms of the light action may prove to be, the intro- 

 duction of the light as stimulus into methods of comparative investigations 

 might be a consistently a useful tool in analysis and in the extension of new 

 concepts to the electrophysiological field. 



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 



Permission to reproduce Plate 1 and Figs. 4 and 5 from the Bulletin de 

 VInstitut Oceanographique de Monaco is gratefully acknowledged. 



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