PAPERS ON REACTIONS TO ELECTRICITY IN UNICEL- 

 LULAR ORGANISMS.^ 



No other field in the behavior of the lower organisms presents 

 such puzzles as the reaction to the electric current. The continued 

 activity in research and speculation along this line is therefore to be 

 welcomed. Some of the papers recently published represent real 

 advances in our knowledge ; others do not. 



Reactions to Induction Shocks. Roesle (i) and Statkew^itsch 

 (2) find that the reaction of Paramecia and other infusoria to single 

 induction shocks is essentially the same as the reaction to other usual 

 stimuli. The animal swims backward, turns toward one side, then 

 swims forward. Sometimes, according to Roesle, the reaction is a 

 simple forward movement, as is often the case with other weak stimuli. 

 Both writers find the anterior end more sensitive than the rest of the 

 body, save that Roesle finds the region about the mouth still more 

 sensitive ; this is not confirmed by Statkewitsch. The reaction be- 

 gins, according to Statkewitsch, with a reversal of the cilia at the 

 anode ; this spreads at once over the body, causing the start backward. 

 With a stronger shock there is contraction and a discharge of tricho- 



ROESLE, E. Die Reaction einiger Infusorien auf einzelne InduktionsschlSge. 

 Zeitschr.f. Allg. Physiol., Bd. 2, 1902, pp. 139-168. 



Statkewitsch, P. Ueber die Wirkung der Induktionschlage auf einige 

 Ciliata. Le Physiologiste Russe, No. 41-45, 1903, pp. I-55. 



Wallengren, H. Zur Kenntnis der Galvanotaxis, I. Die anodische Gal- 

 vanotaxis. Zeitschr.f. Allg. Physiol., Bd. 2, 1902, pp. 341-384. 



Wallengren, H. Zur Kenntnis der Galvanotaxis. II. Eine Analyse der 

 Galvanotaxis bei Spirostomura. Zeitschr.f. Allg. Physiol., Bd. 2, 1903, 

 pp. 516-555. 



Statkewitsch, P. Galvanotropism i Galvanotaxis Zhivotnyk. Chact per- 

 vaya. Galvanotropism i Galvanotaxis ryecnigatyx Infusorii. Disser- 

 tation. Moscow, 1903. 160 pp. 



Greeley, A. W. Experiments on the Physical Structure of the Protoplasm 

 of Paramecium and its Relation to the Reactions of the Organism to 

 Thermal, Chemical and Electrical Stimuli. Biol. Bull., vol. 7, 1903, 



PP- 3-32. 

 BiRUKOFF, B. Zur Theorie der Galvanotaxis. Archiv f. Anat. u. Physiol. 

 physiol. Abth., Jhrg. 1904, pp. 271-296. 



