Specific (A-, B-and D-) granules as well as multivesicular bodies (MVB) with a dense core from the right and left atrium of a variety of mammals (mouse, rat, hamster, guinea pig, rabbit, young and old cat) were compared by quantitative ultrastructural and cytochemical methods as regards number, size, localization and reactivity. The number of specific granules was greater in the right atrium of the rat and lesser in the same atrium of the guinea pig. In the rat this difference was due t o a greater number of all three types of specific granules in the right atrium. In the guinea pig, both A and B granules were more numerous in the left atrium. A greater number of granules was also found in the left atrium of hamster, rabbit and young and old cat but the difference with the right atrium was not significant. All atria contained the same type of specific granules but A-and B-granules were present in the left atrium not only in the paranuclear area, as in the right atrium, but also throughout the sarcoplasm. In both atria, all specific granules were argentaphobic when stained according to the periodic acid-thiocarbohydrazide-silver proteinate technique of Thiery. They reacted positively t o phosphotungstic acid-hydrochloric acid (PTA) (pH 0.3) as did the cell coat, residual bodies (Cgranules), lysosomes, Z-disks and a small portion of the Golgi complex. The PTA and PAS stains were abolished by acetylation, restored by saponification, unchanged by methylation and greatly diminished by sulfation. The MVB with a dense core, identical to those already noted in the cells of various endocrine glands, and thought to be crinophagic, were rare in the right atrium of all species and absent in that of the rat. They were much more numerous in the left atrium, particularly of hamsters, guinea pigs and cats and, to a lesser degree, of mice, rabbits and rats. They were silver negative. Their dense core reacted to PTA but their matrix, contrary to classical MVB without a dense core, did not.