RECORDING OF ELECTRICAL ACTIVITY AND MOVEMENT FROM LEGS OF WALKING CRABS

Abstract

Recordings of electrical activity were made from the leg muscles of walking crabs. In some, the movement of leg joints was monitored by means of a small transducer. Regular patterns of electrical activity appeared during walking. The motor axons of antagonistic muscles were frequently active in reciprocating bursts. In muscles innervated by two motor axons, "fast" and "slow", the latter axon was normally the more active. The inhibitory axons of certain muscles were apparently sometimes fired in a manner which could permit facilitation at the motor nerve endings without tension development in the muscle.