though it was found, as this investigation was in progress, that dihydrosphingosine was easily degraded by lead tetraacetate in benzene-glacial acetic acid, 6 the study of the deamination of dihydrosphingosine was continued to determine the identity of the compounds formed in this reaction. The deamination of the base was effected with NaNOz in glacial acetic acid and the products of the reaction