In the present study an analytical examination was made of the influence of relative humidity on the activity of Oncomelania nosophora. The experiment was conducted in a
perfect
dark
room during the spring and summer months of 1956. The apparatus used is shown in Fig. 1. The snail is amphibious living in an irrigation ditch, in a moist grassland on the beach of a large river, or, in rare cases, in rice field. It appears from its habit as if the snail depends for its activity more or less on the relative humidity of the environment it lives in. However, the experiments showed that the snails were not invariably active when the relative humidity was high (97-100%), and that they were active, irrespective of a change in the relative humidity to some extent, so long as the touched surface of the shell was wet. It may be assumed that in nature the activity of the snail is arrested for want of moisture and is resumed as the touched surface of its shell becomes wet with rain or dew.
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