Locust Wind Receptors

Abstract

1. The sensory cell innervating each wind-receptor hair on the face of the desert locust responds to wind with a slowly adapting train of impulses. 2. Each sensory cell responds maximally to wind flowing in a specific direction. The optimal direction for any sense cell is the same as the angle of curvature of its hair shaft. 3. The optimal wind direction has been determined for each sensory cell of the organ. 4. Three independently measured factors determine a sense cell's direction response :drag asymmetry of the curved shaft, elastic force asymmetry of the socket, and the eccentric attachment of the dendrite. 5. The sensory cells probably continue uninterrupted through the brain, synapsing first in the suboesophageal ganglion. 6. An accessory neurone of unknown function and unidentified central connexions links each seta with the prothoracic ganglion.