Levoglucosan (1 , -anhydro-D-glucose) was found to the extent of 2.3% in a quantitative paper chromatographic investigation of cornstarch acid-hydrolyzates at equilibrium. The identification of levoglucosan in constant amount supports the view that the cornstarch molecule cannot be hydrolyzed completely to D-glucose by acid. In this study, other components tentatively identified were 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde, glycerol, xylose, arabinose, fructose, isomaltose, and gentiobiose. D-Glucose and levoglucosan, when subjected to reaction conditions similar to those for the acid hydrolysis of starch, produce essentially the same equilibrium mixture as that obtained with starch. THE STUDY OF THE COMPOSITION of acid-hydrolyzed cornstarch systems has received the attention of many investigators (70). By various methods of