ORIENTATION IN COMPOUND FIELDS OF EXCITATION; PHOTIC ADAPTATION IN PHOTOTROPISM

During upward geotropic orientation upon a vertical plate the slug Agriolimax creeps vertically, in darkness. Horizontal light from one side produces orientation of dark-adapted slugs away from the vertical path, through an angle (β). The magnitude of this angle is a function of the light intensity and of time. The moderately rapid course of light adaptation is followed by measurements of β at fixed intervals. Simple assumptions as to the nature of the orienting forces lead to the conclusion that the logarithm of the tangent of β should decrease linearly with time, and that the rate of the decrease should vary directly with the logarithm of the light intensity. Both expectations are adequately realized. Certain implications of these results for behavior analysis are pointed out.