Contributions to the Study of the Behaviour of Lower Organisms

Abstract

THE author has been for about ten years a careful observer of the rudiments of behaviour which are exhibited by unicellular and other relatively simple animals, and we have read with interest several of his previous studies on the reactions of infusorians and the like to various sets of stimuli. The general impression conveyed was that infusorians and the like gave evidence of an exceedingly simple and stereotyped mode of behaviour—a mere reaction method. When effectively stimulated by agents of almost any kind, the animalcule moves backwards and turns to a structurally defined side of its minute body, while at the same time it may continue to revolve on its long axis. In relation to all sorts of stimuli, the behaviour seemed exceedingly simple and machine-like. But Prof. Jennings has been gradually discovering that the simple reaction-formula does not cover all the facts, and he now gives us news which seems almost too good to be true.

Contributions to the Study of the Behaviour of Lower Organisms.

By Prof. Herbert S. Jennings. Pp. 256. (Washington: Carnegie Institution, 1904.)