Some Preliminary Observations Bearing on the Nutrition of Limnoria

Limnoria of both sexes and all ages did not survive when they were allowed to feed only on sterile wood in sterile sea water. No fecal pellets were produced under the conditions of this experiment. When Limnoria were given living mycelium of the fungus Peritrichophora integra as the sole food source the mortality rate approached the normal. Amino acid analyses of Limnoria, of sterile wood in which it may live, and of the fungi which normally infects the wood suggest that the fungus makes a greater contribution to the nutrition of this borer than has been heretofore suspected.