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Intravenous 8 hr. metyrapone tests were performed in 12 patients with probable pituitary tumours. Plasma 17-hydroxycorticosteroids and substance S concentrations were measured, and the concentrations of 11-deoxycortisol present after 8 hr. of continuous metyrapone administration were employed as the quantitative criterion of responsiveness. Plasma 11-deoxycortisol, undetectable at the start, rose at 8 hr. to 10·1 ± 1·5 S.E. (range 6–14) µg./100 ml. in the 15 normal control subjects. Three patterns of pituitary adrenal function were seen in the patients. Group I (three cases) had secondary adrenal insufficiency. A second group (five cases) was normal by all tests. The third group of patients (four cases) had normal baseline plasma and urinary corticosteroids but was distinguished from the normal subjects by subnormal 11-deoxycortisol levels after metyrapone. Two subjects had also subnormal responses to corticotrophin (ACTH), indicating partial secondary hypoadrenalism. In the two others whose response to ACTH stimulation was normal, impairment of ACTH release would not have been suspected without the metyrapone test. It is in the detection of this type of patient with occult pituitary insufficiency that tests with metyrapone may be of great value.