Excitation of the A-band low-lying electronic states in the methyl halides, CH 3 I, CH 3 Br, CH 3 Cl, and CH 3 F, has been investigated for the ͑n → ء ͒ transitions, using electron energy loss spectroscopy ͑EELS͒ in the range of 3.5-7.5 eV. For the methyl halides, CH 3 I, CH 3 Br, and CH 3 Cl, three components of the Q complex ͑ 3 Q 1 , 3 Q 0 , and 1 Q 1 ͒ were directly observed, with the exception of methyl fluoride, in the optically forbidden EELS experimental conditions of this investigation. The effect of electronic-state curve crossing emerged in the transition probabilities for the 3 Q 0 and 1 Q 1 states, with spin-orbit splitting observed and quantified against results from recent ab initio studies.