0*9) 
is with small fishes considerably greater and is approximately propor¬ 
tional to the surface of the body, another proof that this relation is 
not to be explained by the necessity of preserving the heat of the body). 
These experiments, as far as I could gather from the short paper, 
were made with carp 1 ). Also Knauthe 3 ) experimented with this fish 
in Zuntz’ laboratory. From his table it appears that the C0 2 production 
and the O s consumption of 2 1 /, year old carp is even somewhat 
greater than of l 1 / 3 year old animals. His further experiments con¬ 
cerning the AT-metabolism taught him “dass nicht die grossten sondern 
mittelgrosse Thiere den geringsten iV-Umsatz zeigten.” 
(* £ That not the largest, but medium-sized animals showed the greatest 
^/-metabolism).” 
Vernon 3 ) determined the O t consumption in invertebrate sea- 
animals and also gives a table in which the weights of the experi¬ 
mental animals are mentioned. Some figures are repeated here. 
x4verage 0, value at 16° 
0.0167 
0.154 
0.083 
0.106 
0.060 
0.088 
0.065 
0.100 
0.129 
0.085 
0.088 
0.078 
- The rest of the table shows several deviations from a constant 
decrease of the O, consumption with the size, as is also the case 
with Carmarina. The author thinks that perhaps “the preservation of 
osmotic equilibrum between the tissues of the organism and the 
external medium may need the continuous application of vital energy 
and as the smaller the animal the larger the proportionate surface 
exposed a larger respiratory activity would necessarily result.” 
*) The “Landwirthschaftlichen Jahrbucher’, which were to publish more detailed 
accounts, I could not get at, 
a ) Knauthe. Arch. f. d. ges. Physiol. 73, S. 490—601. 
8 ) Vernon. Journal of Physiology vol. 19 no. 1 1905. 
4 
Proceedings Royal Acad. Amsterdam. Vol. XII. 
Weight 
Rhizostoma pulmo 62.2 
107. 
Carmarina hastata 15.2 
27.6 
30-2 
34.5 
44.8 
54.7 
6QT GARDEN 
1910 
