Optomotorische Reaktionen der Biene auf bewegte „Polarisations-Muster“ / Optomotor Eesponses of the Bee to Moving “ Polarisation-Pattems”

Abstract

Optomotor turning reactions were induced in worker bees by means of moving “polarisationpatterns”. The responses appeared only when the stimulating light was confined to the short wavelength part of the spectrum, and when the E-vector directions of the polarisation filters of whidi the pattern was composed were at ±45° to the vertical for stimulation of the front region of the eye. Assuming that the polarisation sensitivity of the individual receptor is independent of the wavelength of the light, the experiments show that at least two of the known three different types of colour receptors contribute to the optomotor turning reaction. These results are in agreement with the assumption, that the retinula cell output of each ommatidium is superimposed before the correlation for movement detection between different ommatidial channels takes place.