Training sea slugs

June 10, 2003
From: Charles Sohl

Dr Bill -
There was a question posed on your Sea Slug Forum about training sea slugs, chopping them up and feeding them to other sea slugs who would then some how "learn" what the trained slugs had learned.

This was a controversial topic in the 1960 - 1970s see http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/v2p366y1974-76.pdf

I gather it was so politically incorrect that it was never properly evaluated. I have a book of science essays, one of which addresses the issue. I could send you a copy if you like.
Charlie

sohl@ip-lawyers.com

Sohl, C. , 2003 (Jun 10) Training sea slugs. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/10192

Dear Charlie,
Thanks for reference. I guess you are referring to Matthew Harvey's message from 1999. I'm glad that old questions don't fade a way.

The work you refer to is probably the work I was referring to, so thanks very much for the references. The pdf file you refer to seems to be from Current Contents, v43, p.5-9, October 27, 1975. Among other references, the McConnell (1962) reference seems to refer to the 'worm runners' work of the late 1950s. Of course I shouldn't be posting all this because it refers to flatworms not opisthobranchs - but it is interesting.

• McConnell JV. (1962) Memory transfer through cannibalism in planarians. Journal of Neuropsychiatry, 3: 42-48, 1962.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2003 (Jun 10). Comment on Training sea slugs by Charles Sohl . [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/10192

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