Let be a difference field of characteristic 0, m an irreducible manifold of effective order n over {y}, and F an algebraically irreducible difference polynomial in {y} of effective order n + k, k > 0, which vanishes on 3 m. In an earlier paper (2, p. 447) I gave necessary conditions, restated below as (a), (b), and (c) of the main theorem, for m to be an essential singular manifold of F. These conditions are analogous to the low power criterion of Ritt (1, p. 65) for the corresponding problem of differential algebra. Like that criterion they depend, in the special case that m is the manifold of y, only on which power products appear effectively in F. Unlike the low power criterion, however, conditions (a), (b), and (c) are only necessary, not sufficient.