AbstractWith an improved Maier‐Leibnitz collision chamber absolute values of the total excitation cross sections of the rare gases were measured. The half width of energy distribution in the beam of exciting electrons was approximately 0.7 eV. The results for He and Ne are in reasonable agreement with the excitation functions given by Maier‐Leibnitz, if some necessary corrections (especially with regard to contact potentials) are made. Only the cross sections obtained by us are a little smaller. Furthermore the better fine structure yielded more favourable possibilities of comparison with other measurements published so far. The error should not be greater than