SUMMARY: Two peptides with uterotonic activity have been isolated from the pituitary gland of a holocephalian elasmobranch fish: Hydrolagus collei. One of them had an amino acid composition compatible with that of oxytocin itself, and also had the pharmacological properties of this hormone. The other peptide which was present in much smaller amounts was basic by chromatography and had the pharmacological characteristics of [8-arginine]-oxytocin. It was not completely purified because of the small amount available, but its amino acid composition was in accord with that of vasotocin. The implications of the presence of oxytocin in such a primitive fish on the phylogeny, and hence probably the evolution, of neurohypophysial hormones are discussed.