Nature of the Retarding Influence of the Thymus upon Amphibian Metamorphosis

1. Though thymus-fed salamander larvae often metamorphose normally, thymus feeding sometimes retards and in rare cases inhibits metamorphosis completely. 2. The addition of normal food to a thymus diet abolishes the inhibitory effect of the thymus. 3. Addition of a small quantity of iodothyrin leads rapidly to precocious metamorphosis of thymus-fed larvae. 4. The inhibitory effect of the thymus is not due to a specific inhibiting substance in the thymus, but to the absence from the thymus of a substance required to develop the thyroid to the secretory state.