INSECT METABOLISM

Abstract

Rates of O consumption after anaerobiosis in grasshoppers have been determined. During O lack, grasshoppers build up an O debt. When re-admitted to O, an increased rate of O consumption occcurs and an excess of O, approximately equal in amount to that which the organism would have taken up normally during the period it was deprived of O, is consumed. During anaerobiosis, blood ph falls. Upon recovery, ph values slowly return to normal. It is suggested that the chemical change responsible for the anesthetic condition accompanying anaerobiosis is the production of an excess of acid, carbonic and lactic, and that recovery consists in their elimination.