II. SUNFISH

W. J. Crozier ¹, Ernst Wolf ¹, and Gertrud Zerrahn-Wolf ¹

¹ From the Biological Laboratories, Harvard University, Cambridge

The curve connecting mean critical illumination (I_m) and flicker frequency (F) for response of the sunfish Lepomis (Enneacanthus gloriosus) to flicker is systematically displaced toward lower intensities by raising the temperature. The rod and cone portions of the curve are affected in a similar way, so that (until maximum F is approached) the shift is a nearly constant fraction of I_m for a given change of temperature. These relationships are precisely similar to those found in the larvae of the dragonfly Anax. The modifications of the variability functions are also completely analogous. The effects found are consistent with the view that response to flicker is basically a matter of discrimination between effect of flashes of light and their after effects,—a form of intensity discrimination. They are not consistent with the stationary state formulation of the shape of the flicker curve.

An examination of the relationships between the cone portion and the rod portion of the curves for the sunfish suggests a basis for their separation, and provides an explanation for certain "anomalous" features of human flicker curves. It is pointed out how tests of this matter will be made.

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