Elektrophysiologische Untersuchungen über die Ultraviolettempfindlichkeit von Insektenaugen

Summary

Using the electroretinogram, the relative spectral sensitivity of the compound eye of the cockroachPeriplaneta americana and the flyCalliphora erythrocephala has been measured between 347 and 673 m µ. Besides the well known sensitivity distribution for spectral lights between red and blue, a further rise of sensitivity is demonstrated in the violet and ultraviolet part of the spectrum, reaching the highest value at the shortest wavelength available. Using selective adaptation (P. am.) and different stimulus intensities (C. er.), sensitivities for ultraviolet light were shown to be independent from those in the remaining part of the spectrum. Thus, more than one photopigment are assumed to be present in these eyes, one of them responsible for vision in the ultraviolet.