So far as my observations extend, I find that all Medusæ, after
removal of their locomotor centres, invariably respond to every
kind of stimulation. To take the case of Sarsia as a type, nothing
can possibly be more definite than is the single sharp contraction
of the mutilated nectocalyx in response to every nip with the
forceps. The contraction is precisely similar to the ordinary ones
that are performed by the unmutilated animal; so that by repeating
the stimulus a number of times, the nectocalyx, with its centres
of spontaneity removed, may be made to progress by a succession of
contractions round and round the vessel in which it is contained,
just as a frog, with its cerebral hemispheres removed, may be made to
hop along the table in response to a succession of stimulations.[8]
[8] In the case of the covered-eyed Medusæ, however, the
paralyzed umbrella sometimes responds to a single stimulation
with two, and more rarely with three contractions, which are
separated from one another by an interval of the same duration as
the normal diastole of the unmutilated animal.
Different species of Medusæ exhibit different degrees of irritability
in responding to stimuli; but in all the cases I have met with
the degree of irritability is remarkably high. Thus, I have seen
responsive contractions of the whole umbrella follow upon the
exceedingly slight stimulus caused by a single drop of sea-water
let fall upon the irritable surface from the height of one inch. As
regards chemical stimulation, dilute spirit or other irritant, when
dropped on the paralyzed swimming organ of Aurelia aurita, often
gives rise to a whole series of rhythmical pulsations, the systoles
and diastoles following one another at about the same rate as is
observable in the normal swimming motions of the unmutilated animal.
It is somewhat difficult, in the case of paralyzed swimming organs,
to prove the occurrence of a contraction in response to thermal
stimulation, from the fact that while these tissues are not nearly
so sensitive to this mode of excitation as might be anticipated,
they are, as just observed, extraordinarily sensitive to mechanical
excitation. It therefore becomes difficult to administer the
appropriate thermal stimulus without at the same time causing a
sufficient mechanical disturbance to render it doubtful to which
of the stimuli the response is due. This may be done, however, by
allowing a few drops of heated sea-water to run over the excitable
surface while it is exposed to the air. In this and in other ways I
have satisfied myself that the paralyzed tissues of swimming organs
respond to sudden elevations of temperature.
_Luminous Stimulation._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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