The fulvalenes are the class of hydrocarbons obtained by formally cross‐conjugating two rings through a common exocyclic double bond. Although the first report of such a compound dates to 1915, study of the series began in earnest only in the 1950s, and even today many of the unsubstituted parent hydrocarbons remain unknown. The following report, the first to specifically address this class of molecules, summarises the information available from research published to the end of 2004 and offers some suggestions for future study. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2005)