The role of transamniotic fetal infection in the presence of intact membranes has attracted widespread attention. The present study is a reexamination of the autopsy material from 145 cases of macerated stillbirth observed in the National Maternity Hospital from 1979 to 1982. The objective was to ascertain the incidence of congenital pneumonia. No more than five cases were discovered, and in only two of these was there convincing evidence that the membranes were intact. The amniotic fluid infection syndrome seemed to be of little importance in the causation of late intrauterine death.