ENTOMOLOGY

RELATIONS OF CLIMATE AND LIFE 101MOSYSTALTIC. The adaptation of the body temperature to that ofthe environment is PECILOTHERMAL. A morbid dread of heat isTHERMOPHOBIA. The determination of the direction or rate oflocomotion by heat is called THERMOTAXIS and movement broughtabout by heat is THERMOTROPISM.As the temperatures increase sluggishness increases until bleep orinactivity is induced and this condition once known as aestivation orsummer rest may better be known as THERMANESTHESIA or insensibilitycaused by heat.The point at which ant!sthesia begins at any given h:Imidity is theupper boundary of the thermopractic or effective zone. rhose temperaturesat which successful Thermanesthesia may be ~xpel'ienced embracethe UPPER ZONE OF INACTIVITY, or the ZONE OF THERM­ANESTHESIA. This quickly merges into those high temperatures whichmay with sufficient duration of time cause death, and finally, those temperatureswhich are" absolutely fatal under all conditions. 'The highestzone is therefore the UPPER ZONE OF FATAL TEMPERATURES.Death from heat is known as THERMOPLEGIA, or heat stroke.Most investigators have stopped with a more or less hazy acknowledgmentof the existence of these various zones of reactions on the ascendingscale of the th~rmometer, but the literature contains few referencesto similar zones of reactions on the scale of relative humidity. l-Iowever,if we stop to think we must acknowledge that similar reactions do takeplace.We may have death from absolute dryness at almost any temperature,in other words, we have a condition which is called APOXERAE­XOSIS, or drying up. At very low humidities one may become insensibleand thus we have XERANESTHESIA. Likewise, a little higherhumidity induces sluggishness or a state of XERONOCHELIA. Wehave most of us experienced this condition of stupidity in a living roomat normal temperatures in the winter due to lack of sufficient moisture.So also there is the humidity which enables each individual to accomplishthe greatest results in the least time with the least amount oft,xhaustion and this is the PRACTICOTATUM. With increase ofhl·midity the activity lessens until an excessively humid atmospherebrings about HYGRONOCHELrA or sluggishness due to moisture; thenHYGRANESTHESIA may be experienced by some species and finallydE-ath due to excessive moisture or iIYGROPLEGIA.This makes it obvious therefore that when we plot the reactionsof a species to temperature and humidity, we are likely to find a seriesof closed figures delineating concentric zones of fatal, inactive, activeand optimum conditions. Thus it is apparent that Rhigoplegia,Apoxeraenosis, Thermoplegia, and Hygroplegia form ,a single zone of