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Using radioactive manganese-54, it was shown that appreciably more manganese was lost from Chlorella cells in the light than in the dark under conditions which did not permit aeration nor the addition of carbon dioxide. Exposure of Chlorella cells to (1) pure nitrogen, (2) 5% CO2 in nitrogen, (3) air without CO2, and (4) 5% CO2 in air indicated that the loss of manganese was due mainly to the absence of CO2 and not to a deficiency of oxygen.