Resting primordial germ cells or gonocytes, present in the testis of the rat at birth (Beaumont & Mandl, 1963), are highly radiosensitive. A dose of 50–100 r X-rays induces complete, or almost complete, sterility, as judged by the histological appearance of the testis at 25 days post parturn (Mandl et al. 1964). Studies of short-term post-irradiation changes have revealed that gonocytes, exposed to a sterilizing dose of X-rays at birth, do not degenerate immediately after exposure but differentiate normally into transitional cells (the immediate precursors of definitive germ cells; Beaumont & Mandl, 1963; Huckins, 1963; Franchi & Mandl, 1964) so that no histological abnormalities are detectable for 5 or 6 days. Subsequently, however, the irradiated transitional cells fail to divide; they increase markedly in size and form irregularly shaped giant cells which eventually become pyknotic (Franchi & Mandl, 1966; see also Sapsford, 1965a).