The Analysis of Neuromuscular Mechanisms in Chiton

1. The degree of curvature of the body and of the girdle of a Chiton is determined by the activity of antagonistic muscle groups. At a certain, early stage in the strychninization of a Chiton the reciprocal inhibition involved in the natural use of these muscle groups is reversed, such that extensor muscles, rather than, as normally, flexor muscles, contract as the result of stimulation. This condition involves a reversal, under strychnine, of the normally positive stereotropism of the foot, and of the usual response of the mollusk to an increased illumination of its ventral surface. Strychnine reversal of this character is not a matter of the relative strength of the opposed muscle groups, for the flexor muscles are the more powerful and are the ones always shortened in tetanic contraction. 2. Nicotine, in contrast to strychnine, primarily induces contraction of flexor muscles. Its effects, moreover, are in a degree selective, being notably exerted on "cerebral" nervous structures. Curare is devoid of characteristic action on the neuromuscular responses of Chiton. 3. The chemical organization of the neuromuscular organs of Chiton, as far as revealed by these tests, corresponds to a more simple condition than is inferred for gastropods. In particular, the behavior with respect to curare resembles more that of the neuromuscular apparatus of flatworms.