Measurementa of optical rotatory dispersion (ORD) and circular dichroism (CD) have been made in the range of 600-210 mp for the p-glyoan carbanilates as for instance, 2,3,6tricarbanilylcellulose (I), 2,3,6-tricarbanilyha~an (II), 2,3dicarbanilylmUul0~e (III), and octacarbanilylcellobiose (IV) and aLso for the a-glycan carbanilates, such as 2,3,6tricarbanilylamylose (V), tricarbanilylpullulan (VI), 2,3-dicarbanilylamylose (VII), and octacarbanilylmaltose (VIII). Furthermore, the 2,3,4,6-tetracarbanilyl-c~-methylglucopyranoside (IX) and the 1,2,3,4,6-pentscarbanilylglucose (X) have been measured in dioxane at 2OoC. For the p-glycans a small negative CD in the region of 238-240 mp and nearly symmetrical ORD curve with a crossover point at 238-240 mp are found; this indicates a simple negative Cotton effect. In the case of a-glycosides, a strong negative CD with a maximum at 240-242 mp and a strong positive CD with a maximum at 223-225 mp were found; the ORD curves are asymmetrical and c r m the abscissa in two places, at 241-243 and 220-222 mp. With 2,3,4,6-tetracarbanilyl-a-methylglucoside (IX) no CD and ORD in the ultraviolet region and with 1,2,3,4,6-pentacarbanilylglucopyranoside (X) the ORD, but not the CD, could be measured. The ORD curve is nearly symmetrical, like those of the p-glycans but is of opposite sign. It seems impossible to d i s c w the striking difference of the CD and ORD spectrs between the aand the @-glycans in terms of contributions of single independant chromophores influenced by their individual different steric arrangements and their spatial relation to the glycosidic bond in C1. The exciton theory of Moffitt, which is suitable for explaining the ORD and CD spectra of helical polymers, has been applied to a-and pglycans. A structure with helical parts is proposed for the crglycans while a nearly planar arrangement is assumed for the 8-glycans.