The effect of decreased temperature is therefore to retard forward
movement and to increase proportionally the number of spiral turns, for
a revolution of the body on the long axis is the equivalent of one turn
in the spiral path. It will be recalled that a similar result was
obtained with amebas; in the lower temperature the rate of forward
movement was reduced and the tendency to deepen the waves increased. In
both these classes of organisms, differences in temperature enable one
to separate the forward movement component from the spiral component, in
the same way and in general to the same extent.
In clear water of optimum temperature or somewhere near it, paramecia
and euglena (_Euglena gracilis_, which does not readily react to light)
often swim for long stretches without change of direction. When the
temperature is lowered, however, the stretches of straight paths become
much shorter. In a temperature of 8° C. changes of direction become very
frequent. In paramecium some of these changes are probably due to shock
of some sort, judging from mere appearance; but in many cases the change
of direction is preceded by a slowing up of forward movement and the
swinging of the anterior end in a wide circle one or more times around.
Occasionally one observes slow forward movement with wide swinging of
the anterior end, for considerable distances. In euglena this condition
is more marked than in paramecium; frequently the anterior end spins
around with the posterior end as a pivot for several minutes at a time,
in low temperatures.
These observations are strikingly analogous to the circles formed in the
paths of amebas in low temperatures, and geometrically they bear the
same relation to the spiral paths of ciliates and flagellates as the
circles do to the wavy path of the ameba.
Besides the effect of temperature on paramecium and euglena, effects
which are continuous and automatic, it is of course well known that the
spiral path may be readily broken into by appropriate stimulation of the
sense organs. The automatic locomotory mechanism is then for the time
being controlled with reference to the character of the stimulus and the
experience of the organism. But as soon as the effect of the stimulus
has disappeared, the automatic mechanism again controls locomotion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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