Gastrectomy specimens including 32 cases of carcinoma and 35 cases of peptic ulcer were examined in detail histologically and histochemically to show the distribution of intestinal metaplasia (IM) and types of mucin secreted. A variant of IM, with extensive involvement of both antrum and body and excessive secretion of sulphomucin, was found to be associated with carcinomas showing appreciable extracellular sulphomucin secretion. The identification of such a variant of IM may help the interpretation of gastric biopsies.