Expressions are reviewed which may be used to determine 10 Dq and B from the spin-allowed bands in the optical spectra of d 3 and d 7 electron systems within octahedral and tetrahedral sym metry. Application to low-temperature single crystal spectra demonstrates that (i) the semi-empirical ligand field theory reproduces transition energies with sufficient accuracy; (ii) differences in the values of 10 Dq and B observed with different fitting methods may be attributed to the inaccuracy of experimental data; (iii) there are generally valid values of B35 and /?33 for each complex ion.The semi-empirical ligand field theory provides means to completely determine the electronic d -d spectra of transition metal ions of octahedral symmetry in terms of three parameters: the octahedral splitting parameter 10 Dq ( = A) and the interelectronic repulsion parameters (= Racah parameters) B and C which are linear combinations of the Condon-Short ley parameters F2 and1 . An analogous statement applies to tetrahedral symmetry and one or two additional parameters (e. g. Ds and Dt in tetragonal environment) are required if the symmetry is lower than cubic. In general, the numerical values of the parameters B and C, as determined from d -d spectra, are lower than the values in a free transition metal ion. This observation is well known as the nephelauxetic effect 2 ' 3 .In the first part of this study 4 , the author has recently reviewed and tested methods which may be used to determine 10 Dq, B, and C from electronic spectra. To focus the attention on the value of B, these methods were applied to the spin-allowed d -d bands in high-spin d 2 , d 3 , d 7 , and d 8 complexes of octahedral and tetrahedral microsymmetry. In the expressions of the corresponding transition energies, the parameter C does not occur 5 . In addition, 10 Dq may always be fixed by a suitable choice of the calculation method. A convenient check on the accuracy of the employed numerical procedure is provided by calculating the extra band energy, ifRequests for reprints should be sent to Doz. Dr. E. KÖNIG,