Using fistulated calves, the influence of the age, type of dietary protein and weaning on the secretion of chymosin and pepsin by the abomasum were studied. The abomasum secreted both chymosin and pepsin when the animals were fed milk. Chymosin secretion appeared to be independent of the age of the animals, whereas a slow increase in pepsin secretion was observed as the calves aged. Several preruminant animals were fed either a skim-milk diet or a milt substitute in which proteins were provided by fish, soya or whey concentrates. Each of these 3 milk substitutes led to a decrease in chymosin secretion without modification of pepsin secretion. Chymosin secretion was partly restored when the calves were again given a skim-milk diet. At weaning, chymosin secretion dropped abruptly, but the pepsin level was not affected. These results indicate that milk (most probably its casein fraction) is responsible for the activation of chymosin secretion.For the newborn mammal, milk is the main food, and growth depends on its efficient absorption from the digestive tract. Coagulation of the caseins in the stomach controls and slows down the flow of the chyme into the duodenum at a time when the volume of pancreatic secretion is still low. Pepsin, chymosin (if present) and hydrogen ions are responsible for milk coagulation.In the preruminant animal the functional part of the stomach is the abomasum which secretes chymosin, a milk-clotting acid protease. It was once considered that the level of pepsin was very low in the abomasum of the milk-fed calf and that at weaning the consumption of solid food caused chymosin secretion to cease and pepsin secretion to increase (Berridge et al. 1943). However, Grosskopf (1959), Henschel, Hill & Porter (1961) and Hill, Noakes & Lowe (1970 have shown that, even in milk-fed calves, appreciable pepsin activity could be detected in the abomasum. Garnot et al. (1974) have presented quantitative data on the chymosin and pepsin levels in the abomasum of slaughtered preruminant calves. So far, there is little information on the effect of age on these levels. Nain et al. (1972) observed a decrease in chymosin secretion at 3 months of age, but the diets were not specified. The clotting activity was found to be high in the abomasum of the fetal cab 0 (Kirton, Paterson &