The Ayre and the Armovical cervical spatulae were compared in a randomized trial involving 982 women of childbearing age. It was found that the Armovical spatula was slightly less effective than the Ayre spatula in obtaining adequate numbers of squamous cells. The Armovical spatula was, however, far better at providing a sample of endocervical or metaplastic cells and, as a result, yielded a substantially higher proportion of 'satisfactory' smears (54 per cent as against 39 per cent). Red blood cells were more often present in smears taken with the Armovical spatula than with the Ayre spatula. Although the data in the present study were too few to prove that the Armovical spatula is better than the Ayre spatula at detecting cellular abnormalities, it seems likely that this is so.