Premotor neurones mediating skin reflex actions onto cat forelimb motoneurones at T1 were identified by observing their monosynaptic effects on motoneurones by means of spike-triggered averaging. Both excitatory and inhibitory premotor neurones, with mono- or polysynaptic inputs from skin afferents, were identified at C7 to rostral C8, and were found mostly in laminae V-VI. They received excitatory inputs from corticospinal and rubrospinal tract fibres.