Because of indolent course without mortality, the term "pigmented epithelioid melanocytoma" has been suggested as a replacement for "equine" or "animal-type" melanoma and for the epithelioid blue nevus of the Carney type, from which they are histologically indistinguishable. This report reviews this concept and recounts in detail two of eighteen cases occurring in residents of the Central Coast of California. This paper also contains clinical photographs of pigmented epithelioid melanocytoma, unlike prior reports.