The histological classification of gastric carcinomas is difficult as these tumours appear to he very varying structurally. This has led to considerable confusion in the histological terminology of gastric cancer. Moreover, the descriptive histological types such as adenocarcinoma, papillary, solid, scirrhous and colloid carcinoma appear to show a fairly poor correlation with the other features of the disease. The significance of histological classification was denied completely by Slont (1953) and Ackaman & del Regalo (1962) who advanced the view that the histological structure of gastric carcinoma shows arbitrary'differences in the various parts of the tumour. But the necessity of defining the histological basic types associated with the other features of gastric carcinomas has also been emphasized (Schindler 1941,