It has been suggested both in informal discussions and at society meetings that the frequent finding of fungi in the various cases of vesicular, papular and squamous dermatitis of the hands and feet was an evidence of the ubiquitous distribution of fungi on the human skin, and not evidence of pathogenicity. It was suspected by some observers that the fungi of the trichophyton and epidermophyton groups might be more or less normal inhabitants of the human skin and that their occurrence in the inflammatory conditions above mentioned might be accidental in the same sense that the occurrence of various staphylococci and other organisms in these lesions is accidental. In an attempt to determine this point, at the suggestion of Dr. Martin F. Engman, cultures were made from the skin of apparently normal feet of 100 medical students, physicians and technicians. The hands, feet and genitocrural regions of these persons were