INTRODUCTION.THE common cockroach (Periplaneta orientalis) has long been known to live for considerable periods in the cdmplete absence of oxygen.It has further been shown [Davis and Slater, 1926] that during such periods of anaerobiosis the insects go into debt for oxygen in a manner closely resembling that observed in man during severe exercise.As the cockroaches are perfectly quiescent during the period of anaerobiosis, the debt must be incurred not as the result of special muscular activity, but in maintaining the resting metabolism of the animal as a whole.It is to be expected therefore that the amount of oxygen debt in a given period of anaero- biosis will be equal to the oxygen used at rest in an equal time in air; such a relationship was found to exist.The investigations of Meyerhof, Warburg and their co-workers on lactic acid formation in isolated tissues suggest the possibility that the energyrequired for the resting metabolism of the cockroach under anaerobic conditions is supplied by the breakdown of glycogen to lactic acid, with the subsequent removal of lactic acid on the readmission of air.
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Davis et al. (1928) studied this question.