Columnar and gas-liquid chromatography were employed to determine the fatty acid commposition of the principle lipid constitutents found in five serial stratigraphic layers of a fresh steerhide. The data indicate that different wax esters, glycerides and phospholipids predominate in different strata of the hide, and the fatty acid composition of these does not reflect the composition of the free fatty acids present at these locations. The data suggest that the lipid constituents are deposited by specific processes at each location and that there is little physical transport of the lipids from one location to another within the living hide.