192 



Brown, Frank A., Jr. 1958. 



Studies of the timing mechanisms of daily, tidal, and lunar periodicities in 

 organisms. In Perspectives in Marine Biology. A. A. Buzzati-Traverso (ed.) . 

 Univ. Calif. Press, Berkeley, p. 269-282. 



This review chapter cites work on a variety of plant and animal species, 

 including Venus , also called quahog, therefore Venus (Mercenaria) mercenaria. 

 Graphs of solar and lunar cycles, and responses to barometric pressure 

 changes, are given. Oxygen consumption of Venus rises with falling pressure. 

 In discussion, V. L. Loosanoff commented that he would like an explanation of 

 why such clearly demonstrated rhythms in experimental animals, kept under 

 rather unfavorable conditions such as small quantities of water, cannot be 

 easily or at all detected in clams such as Venus mercenaria under natural or 

 almost natural conditions. No reply was recorded. - J.L.M. 



193 



Brown, F. A., Jr., H. M. Webb, and M. F. Bennett. 19 55. 



27-Day cycles of activity in oysters and quahogs . Anat. Rec . 122(3) : 463. 



Opening of shells was recorded continuously for 4 5 days in one test and 75 

 days in another. Clams were in containers of seawater at 10 °C in the first 

 period. Distilled water was added periodically to maintain salinity. In 

 the 2nd period clams were held at room temp and seawater was changed every 

 3 or 4 days. Analysis showed clear cycles of lunar-day and solar-day 

 frequencies. A very striking 27-day cycle was present. In the lunar-day 

 cycle very conspicuous patterns of major and minor periods of activity 

 recurred 3 days earlier in each succeeding synodic month. Another analysis 

 of the data in which all cycles of primary solar and lunar frequencies were 

 randomized also showed the 27-day cycle. - J.L.M. 



194 



Brown, Frank A., Jr., H. Marguerite Webb, and Miriam F. Bennett. 1955. 



Proof for an endogenous component in persistent solar and lunar rhythmicity 

 in organisms. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 41: 93-100. 



The paper deals with fiddler crab, Uca pugnax. Mercenaria mercenaria is not 

 mentioned. Crabs were transported 51° westward, from Woods Hole, Mass. to 

 Berkeley, Calif, within 24 hrs . Thus it was possible to measure the 

 approximate degree of precision of the capacity of crabs to maintain daily 

 and lunar cycles of color change while no concurrent physical cycle of the 

 same length could be affecting them. Compared with controls kept at Woods 

 Hole the Berkeley crabs shifted their cycles to slightly later in the day, 

 about 22 min forward. There was no tendency for animals in Calif, to drift 

 away from Woods Hole controls. - J.L.M. 



195 



Brown, Frank A., H. Marguerite Webb, and Erwin J. Macey. 1957. 



Lag-lead correlations of barometric pressure and biological activity. Biol. 

 Bull. 113(1) : 112-119. 



Using statistical correlation techniques, the authors claim to have found 

 statistically significant correlations between biological activity and 

 barometric pressure changes in a variety of animals and plants, in which the 

 organisms were actually leading barometric pressure changes by more than a 

 day. The correlation for Venus (Mercenaria) was -0.446*0.096 2 days in 

 advance. Specific experiments with potato tissue and fiddler crabs are 

 cited in confirmation. (Abstracter's note: results for Venus were obtained 

 from statistical analysis of data taken from the literature. Different time 

 displacements were tried and the highest value of r was selected. Conclusions 

 drawn from such manipulation are suspect. In the absence of direct experi- 

 mental evidence, such conclusions are not warranted.) - J.L.M. 



54 



