DARK ADAPTATION IN AGRIOLIMAX

A method is described which measures the excitation of Agriolimax by light, during the progress of light adaptation, by assuming that the orientating effect of continuous excitation is expressed as a directly proportionate tension difference in the orienting muscles of the two sides of the body. The tendency toward establishment of such a tension difference is caused to work against a similar geotropic effect at right angles to the phototropic one. This enables one to study the kinetics of light adaptation, and of dark adaptation as well. The situation in the receptors is adequately described by the paradigm See PDF for Equation similar to that derived by Hecht for the differential sensitivity of various forms, but with the difference that the "dark" reaction is not only "bimolecular" but also autocatalysed by the reaction product S. The progress of dark adaptation is reflected (1) in the recovery of the amplitude of the orientation and (2) in the rates of light adaptation at different levels of the recovery; each independently supports these assumptions, for which the necessary equations have been provided. These equations also account for the relative variabilities of the angles of orientation, and, more significantly, for the two quite different kinds of curves of dark adaptation which are obtained in slightly different types of tests.