Abstract
THE cones of many bird and reptile retinas contain brilliantly coloured oil globules. In the chicken they are red, golden and yellow-green1,2. They possess considerable interest, for light must filter through them to enter the sensitive cone outer limbs, and they may serve, therefore, as a mechanism for colour vision3.
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References
Hannover, A., Arch. Anat., 314 (1843); colour plate in Hess C., “Hdbch. vergl. Physiol.”, 4, 555 (1913).
Kühne, W., and Ayres, W. C., Unters. physiol. Inst. Heidelberg, 1, 341 (1878); J. Physiol., 1, 109 (1878–79).
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Wald, G., unpublished observations.
Hamilton, W. F., and Coleman, T. B., J. Comp. Psych., 15, 183 (1933).
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WALD, G., ZUSSMAN, H. Carotenoids of the Chicken Retina. Nature 140, 197 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/140197a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/140197a0
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