The relationship of cellular lipids to thermophily and the heat resistance of bacterial spores has been studied but with occasional contradictory results. Explanation for differences may lie in attempts to compare the lipids of the same or different species of microorganism grown under widely varying cultural conditions. Evidence that cultural conditions alone may influence lipid content has been offered by Larson and Larson (1922), Heide (1939), and Starkey (1946). Leathes and Raper (1925) were among the first to attempt correlation of growth temperature with degree of unsaturation of cellular lipids. Using lipids of plants and animals, they found that highly unsaturated lipids were produced at low environmental temperatures, whereas the most saturated lipids were obtained at high temperatures. The lipids extracted from species of Aspergillus and Rhizopus by Terroine et al. (1927) conformed to this principle but Prill et al. (1935) with Aspergillus Jischeri, and Singh and Walker (1956) using A. nidulans, found an inverse correlation. Gaughran (1947) observed that the lipids of Bacillus subtilis decreased in quantity and unsaturation as the incubation temperature was raised above the optimum whereas under similar conditions the lipids of an unidentified thermophile were constant. Early studies on the effect of lipids on heat resistance of bacterial spores have been reviewed by Gaughran (1947). Further evidence that lipids may be important in heat resistance was provided by Sugiyama (1951), who was able to increase the heat resistance of spores of Clostridium botulinum by adding long chain fatty I Supported in part by a research grant from Swift and Company, Chicago, Illinois. 2 This work was taken from a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree at the