MAGNETIC RESPONSE OF AN ORGANISM AND ITS SOLAR RELATIONSHIPS

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Abstract
Snails, Nassarius obsoleta, were allowed to emerge from a magnetic-south directed corridor into a constant, symmetrical field at all hours from 5 A.M. to 9 P.M. during a 2 month period. The snails showed a solar-day rhythm, in both the direction and degree of veering from their initial southward path. For example, in mean direction of path the snails held their southward direction at 5 A.M., but veered increasingly to the left to a maximum at noon. Experiments with bar magnets giving field strengths 9 to 10 times the earth''s proved the snails sensitive to these very weak fields. The character of response to the experimental fields was in turn a function of time of solar day. The animals responded to the experimentally augmented field in the same manner that their behavior suggested they were responding concurrently in the earth''s field alone. It was concluded therefore, that the snails ordinarily respond to the earth''s natural magnetic field. Comparison of the magnetic-response fluctuations with earlier reported exogenously regulated fluctuations in 02-consumption of the snails in so-called constant conditions, suggested some relationship between the two.