Analysis of the Electrophysiological Responses of the Trochanteral Hair Receptors of the Cockroach

ABSTRACT In arthropods much of the body surface bears innervated hairs or bristles which have the general histological structure described by Snodgrass (1935) as sensilla trichoidea, and it is generally assumed from their positions that they are either mechanoreceptors or chemoreceptors. A number of studies have shown that tricho sensilla of similar histological structure respond to very different sensory modalities and that to some extent the receptor response spectrum is determined partly by the structure of the hair and partly by the characteristics of the innervating neurone (Dethier, 1963).