46 THE TROPISMS 



process varies greatly in different animals. Orientation may 

 be effected by the action of the cilia, flagella, muscles of the 

 body wall, legs and wings; and the way in which special 

 parts function to bring about orientation may be funda- 

 mentally different in different forms. In some cases the 

 whole body is sensitive to light, in other cases only certain 

 regions, and in many forms the response is entirely depend- 

 ent upon the eyes. 



There has been more or less controversy as to whether 

 the phototactic reaction is due to the direction of the rays 

 or to the differences in light intensity. A good part of this 

 discussion has been based on misunderstandings. If an 

 animal is oblique to the rays of light it naturally becomes 

 stimulated with unequal degree of intensity on its two sides, 

 which probably causes the orienting movements. There is 

 little doubt that direction of light in the majority of cases, 

 if not in all, causes orientation in this manner; it is possible, 

 however, that in more or less transparent animals the direc- 

 tion the rays take through the tissues may determine 

 orientation in a way analogous to the directive effect of the 

 galvanic current, but at present we have no convincing evi- 

 dence that such is the case. 



It was shown by Loeb in all the animals he subjected to 

 the experiment that it is the rays toward the violet end of the 

 spectrum that are the most potent in producing the photo- 

 tactic response. Red light has comparatively little orienting 

 power and many phototactic animals react to it as to dark- 

 ness. I have found, however, that the amphipod Orchestia 

 agilis when brought into a phototactic dark room illumin- 

 ated by light through ordinary red glass is markedly positive. 

 Specimens in a dark box held so as to get the red light re- 

 flected from one wall still showed a positive response although 

 the light was so dim I could scarcely see their movements. 



