Measurements have been made of the Stokes drag on a cylinder of length 2land diameter 2rfalling with its axis horizontal toward a horizontal plane boundary. The distance from the cylinder axis to the plane ish. Forl>2.48randh>3r, the results agree well with the slender body theory of de Mestre and Russel [J. Eng. Math.9, 81 (1975)]. Forl>19randh<0.5l, the theory of Jeffrey and Onishi [Q. J. Mech. Appl. Math.34, 129 (1981)] for a cylinder of infinite length is in good agreement with the experimental results; this theory also agrees well with the results for cylinders as short asl=0.89rin the regionh<2r. Measurements with tori indicate that the theory of Jeffrey and Onishi is not sensitive to curvature of the cylinder centerline in the horizontal plane. Forh>2land for all of the cylinders used (98r≥l≥0.89r) the data confirm the general boundary effect expression of Brenner [J. Fluid Mech.12, 35 (1962)]; and are in better agreement with Brenner’s expression than with the modified form proposed by Williams [J. Fluid Mech.24, 285 (1966)]. Forl>5r, the deceleration of the cylinder is observed to be constant when the cylinder velocity is between 0.4 and 0.15 of its value far from the wall, but the deceleration tends to zero as the velocity approaches zero.