The effect of oral administration of galactose, lactose, and sucrose and intravenous injection of galactose on the urinary excretion of blood-group-active oligosaccharides has been studied. Galactose given either as the free sugar, a glycoside (lactose) or a constituent of normal diet was an absolute requirement for the formation and excretion of A-trisaccharide, B-trisaccharide and 2'-fucosylgalactose in blood group A, B and O(H) secretors, respectively. Great individual variation was seen in the amounts of galactose-dependent oligosaccharides excreted. Injection of galactose resulted in excretion of 3 -59 of the amount of oligosaccharide formed after oral administration to the same individual. The mean ratio A-trisaccharide/B-trisaccharide was 2.7 in four blood-group-AIB secretors and 0.22 in three A2B secretors and can thus serve as a parameter for chemical differentiation between the two blood groups. The excretion of larger blood-group-active oligosaccharides, including the A-pentasaccharide, the B-pentasaccharide and lactodifucotetraose, that are normal components in urine from, respectively, starved A, B, and H secretors, was about the same after oral administration of galactose or lactose. The B-trisaccharide wdS the only oligosaccharide detected in plasma after oral galactose administration to a blood-group-B secretor individual. The concentration was 0.38 mg/l of plasma.Blood-group-active tetrasaccharides and pentasaccharides have been isolated from the urine of starved blood-group A, B or H secretors [l -41. Normal food intake or lactose diet induced an excretion of additional blood-group-active disaccharides or trisaccharides in these urines [5]. The oligosaccharides formed by A, B and H secretors are shown in Fig.