Rate of Equilibration of the Contents of the Gut of Anopheles quadrimaculatus Larvæ with the Surrounding Medium

Abstract

RECENT investigations concerned with the nutrition of culicine larvæ have shown that there is a marked improvement in the growth rate when protein in suspension replaces protein in solution in the medium¹. Whatever the final explanation of this phenomenon, a question arises concerning the ability of this larva to filter and use particulate matter from its environment, swallowing very little water in the process. The larvæ of Anopheles species, which, in Nature, consume large quantities of suspended material in the form of micro-organisms, might also be suspected of being able to perform this task. To examine this possibility, an attempt has been made to determine the rate of equilibration of a small, highly soluble molecule between the surrounding medium and the gut of the fourth instar larva of Anopheles quadrimaculatus Say.