THE RESPIRATORY GAS EXCHANGE IN TERMOPSIS NEVADENSIS

Abstract

The O consumption does not decrease materially with falling 0 tension until a concentration of approximately 2% is reached. Below this tension the affinity of the animals for O is so marked that substantially all the available gas is consumed. In the absence of O the organism respires anaerobically, although at a reduced rate, for as long as two days without injury. During this time the animals are in a state of immobility from which they recover soon after readmission of air. After exposure to anaerobic conditions no indication of 0 debt was found. These termites are able to exist and respire normally in a CO2 tension as high as 20%. Higher concentrations tend to induce a condition of anaesthesia, which, however, is reversible. Under anaerobic conditions, and possibly also in the presence of 0, the termites evolve an undetermined gas which may be H or CH4. The production of this gas depends on the integrity of the intestinal fauna, since it is not evolved by de-faunated termites.