Peripherally-administered bombesin and gastrin-releasing peptide produce potent, dose-related, and specific reductions of food intake at test meals in rats. Similar effects on meal size are observed after intraperitoneal injections in mice and after intravenous infusions in baboons and humans. The mechanism for this effect is unknown, but the action of bombesin is not blocked by complete subdiaphragmatic vagotomy, by a variety of peripheral endocrine and neural ablations, or by lesions of the area postrema or hypothalamus. Hypothalamic injections of bombesin produce small but specific reductions of food intake; the relationship of this central effect to the peripheral effect of the peptide is unknown. Bombesin and bombesin-like peptides may play roles in the regulation of meal size.