Folliculinids of Ago Bay, Japan — Matthews 
and examined for pigment granules. Most, how- 
ever, were too small to be dissected without 
micro-manipulators (which were not available) 
so the entire animal was squashed and examined 
under the microscope. No stains were employed 
and no permanent mounts were made. 
Results 
In every instance these tiny pieces were 
quickly carried toward the region of the mouth 
of a suspected predator but were as quickly re- 
jected. Likewise, smears of digestive tract con- 
tents of large, dissected animals and squashes 
of entire animals too small to be conveniently 
dissected all failed to reveal folliculinid pig- 
ment granules. While it is true that the size of 
the pieces offered as food were probably too 
large to be accepted, smear and squash tech- 
niques should have disclosed "naturally” occur- 
ring ganules had such been present. Not once 
in any of the suspected predators were follicu- 
linid pigment granules observed. 
Even in P. violaceae, whose swimmers are 
among the first organisms to appear, no pig- 
ment granules were ever recovered. 
At first sight, the situation seemed quite dif- 
ferent in Heterotanais sp. (a voracious isopod 
which temporarily abandons its mucous tube 
to search for food and then quickly returns to 
it for protection). It would accept the empty 
lorica quite as readily as the lorica-free body 
and quickly pull either into its mucous tube. 
However, digestive tracts of these animals failed 
to reveal either pieces of lorica or pigment gran- 
ules, and only after days of searching were 
both found cemented together with debris in 
the wall of the mucous tube. 
Even the large Umisemi, Cymodoce japonica 
(which the Japanese call the "locust of the sea,” 
for they eat everything) fails to utilize either 
P. violaceae or P. amphora, both of which oc- 
cupy the same position on C. japonica that Mi- 
rofolliculina limnoriae occupies on the gribble. 
In no instance, were folliculinid pigment gran- 
ules recovered from their digestive tract con- 
tents. 
CONCLUSIONS 
Folliculinids, newly reported in Japan, are 
abundant in the epifauna of the Pearl Oyster, 
249 
Pine tad a martensii from Ago Bay, Japan, but 
while these may profit by their association with 
different types of filter- feeders it is doubtful if 
other members of the epifauna use folliculinids 
as food. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
I wish to thank my sponsor, Dr. N. Kawa- 
moto, who arranged housing accommodations 
at the National Pearl Research Laboratory, 
Kashikojima, and its director, Mr. Ohta, who 
provided research facilities at the Tatokushima 
Laboratory, Ago Bay. I am also grateful to the 
research staffs of these laboratories for their 
many kindnesses during these investigations. 
Credit to also due Mrs. Sally Oshiro, depart- 
ment secretary, who typed the manuscript and 
Mrs. Barbara Downs, department artist, who 
prepared the plates from my laboratory sketches. 
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