The right eyes of 40 rats were exposed to a single erythemogenic dose of ultraviolet B irradiation (UVB) at 297 nm. The irradiation was directed perpendicular to the center of the cornea. The left eyes served as controls. The animals were randomly assigned into 10 groups. The labeling index (LI) after pulse labeling with tritiated thymidine and the mitotic rate (MR) after Colcemid administration were registered in the corneal epithelium at predetermined intervals up to 96 h after the irradiation. A mathematical method was used to correlate corresponding corneal areas from the different animals. In the central cornea the LI was considerably reduced up to 36 h after the irradiation. The LI increased toward the peripheral cornea and reached normal values at the limbal area. The MR was also reduced up to 36 h. However, this reduction was over the entire epithelium. The block in cell proliferation was followed by increased proliferation.