Cats were observed fluoroscopically while feeding upon minced liver and BaSO4. As a precaution against asphyxia after double vagotomy the thyro-arytenoid ligaments were burned with a cautery needle under chloroform. Atropin Sulph. precluded salivation. Later both vagi and cervical sympathetics were cut high in the neck at one sitting. In other cats double splanchnectomy was performed and in a 3rd group double splanchnectomy with double vagotomy. After double vagotomy paralysis of the entire esophagus results with early recovery of the lower end (smooth muscle). The upper end (striated portion) remains paralyzed. The food swallowed by doubly vagotomized cats lodges in the upper part and is moved downward by subsequent swallows and also by gravity. The column of food is pinched off by a peristaltic wave of the smooth musculature. The striated muscle regains some motility within 3 mo.; it does not degenerate after double vagotomy nor does this part of the esophagus dilate. Double splanchnot-omy does not affect the motility of the cat''s esophagus.