ABSTRACT
Little is known about the mechanism of proprioception in arthropods. A number of organs or groups of cells have been described which on anatomical grounds might serve proprioceptive function, e.g. the ‘chordotonal organs’ in insects (Graber, 1882) and crustaceans (Wetzel, 1933), bipolar cells in insect muscle (Hilton, 1924; Rogosina, 1928) or in crustacean joints (Tonner, 1933), the ‘myochordotonal’ organ in the meropodite of decapod crustaceans (Barth, 1934), the ‘muscle receptor organ’ and ‘A-cells’ of various crustaceans (Alexandrowicz, 1951,1952 a, b). Physiological evidence has been obtained for the crustacean ‘muscle receptor organ’ by Wiersma, Furshpan’ Florey (1953), who showed that it gives rise to a discharge of afferent impulses during stretch, as was suggested by Alexandrowicz. The existence of kinaesthetic organs in the walking limbs of crustaceans was indicated by the fact that movements of the joints can elicit impulses in the limb nerves (Barnes, 1930, 1931) and in the central nervous system (Prosser, 1935). In insects there is evidence for a proprioceptive discharge from the campaniform sensilla (Pringle, 1938a, b, 1940) and the hair sensilla at the joints (Pringle, 1938c).
