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Journal of Experimental Biology 28,51-56 (1951)
Published by Company of Biologists 1951

The Role of Oesophageal Rhythms in the Behaviour of Arenicola Ecaudata Johnston

G. P. WELLS ¹ and ELINOR B. ALBRECHT ¹

¹ Department of Zoology, University College, London

1. Arenicola ecaudata differs not only in structure, but in mode of life, from A. marina. Our results indicate that there are also great differences in behaviour physiology.

2. The brainless isolated extrovert of ecaudata traces a continuous, or nearly continuous, background of activity, upon which prominent spells of vigorous rhythmic contraction appear at intervals of the order of 30-40 min. Similar spells are sometimes shown by the corresponding preparation from marina, whose characteristic f cycle can be regarded as produced by the organization of the back-ground activity of ecaudata into vigorous and regularly spaced outbursts.

3. There is little evidence of a pacemaker role of the oesophagus in ecaudata. If the movements of the extrovert and body wall are simultaneously recorded, they generally exhibit correlated outbursts of variable and fluctuating pattern, and very unlike the behaviour of the brainless extrovert. Similar outbursts are shown by the body wall after severance of its connexion with the extrovert. They are probably of central nervous origin.