In a group of 440 autopsies performed at the State Institute for the Study of Malignant Disease, at Buffalo, on patients dying from a malignant lesion, a series of 186 cases were found in which the primary growth arose from squamous epithelium. These cases were divided into two groups, those in which distant metastases occurred and those which remained localized, the involvement of regional lymph nodes or invasion of surrounding structures by direct extension being considered a localized lesion.