A structure-descriptor EE, recently proposed by Estrada, is examined. If λ 1 , λ 2 ,...,λ n are the eigenvalues of the molecular graph, then EE = n ∑ i=1 e λ i . In the case of benzenoid hydrocarbons with n carbon atoms and m carbon-carbon bonds, EE is found to be accurately approximated by means of the formula a 1 n cosh 2m/n + a 2 , where a 1 ≈ 1.098 and a 2 = −0.64 are empirically determined fitting constants. Within classes of benzenoid isomers (which all have equal n and m), the Estrada index is linearly proportional to the number of bay regions.