VARIATIONS IN THE VOLUME AND CONCENTRATION OF THE BLOOD OF THE SNAIL, HELIX POMATIA L., IN RELATION TO THE WATER CONTENT OF THE BODY

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Abstract
A convenient measure of the "size" of a snail is its dry weight, exclusive of shell and albumen gland, and, where calculable, its blood solutes. The specimens of Helix pomatia studied contained between 3.8 and 10.2 g of Water per gram dry weight and between 51 and 456 mg of copper per kilogram dry weight. When "copper space" was defined as the weight of blood water that would contain the amount of copper present in the body, copper spaces varied between 1.1 and 4.4 g of water per gram dry weight. Variations in copper space (approximately equal to blood volume) accounted for the greater part of the variation in total body water, though the amount of water in the tissues was also variable. The concentration of sodium in the blood varied naturally over the range 46–129 mmole/kg of water, varying proportionately with chloride. Variations in sodium concentration are largely due to variations in the volume of blood in which the sodium is dissolved, but a given change in blood volume is, in general, associated with a proportionately smaller change in sodium concentration.

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