It is well known in sonar work that the pulse form of a direct echo from a target bears little relation to the form of the original signal. This is true even for regularly shaped bodies, such as a sphere. In this paper, the case of a homogeneous elastic sphere in water is examined theoretically and it is shown in comparison with experimental results, that the observed effects originate from vibrations induced in the sphere by the incident sound. Calculated results are presented for a variety of solid materials and it seems that echo forms could possibly provide information about the size and constitution of a sonar target.