Extracellular recording of precruciate neurons in chloralose anesthetized cats revealed a topographical distribution of the visual input to this area. In general, neurons having cutaneous receptive fields restricted to the distal forelimb did not receive visual afferents. Cells with cutaneous receptive fields in the proximal areas of the limbs and the trunk usually possessed visual receptive fields. The bias of visual input towards the body axis was emphasized by iontophoretic application of sodium glutamate in subthreshold quantities, used in order to lower the threshold of motor-sensory neurons. Cutaneous receptive fields (proximal and distal) invariably increased in size, as they do in the spinal cord, but visual responses could be elicited only in cells with cutaneous input from the body axis. In the majority of cells receiving cutaneous and visual information, the responses elicited by each modality differed markedly. Whereas somatic stimuli brought about a repetitive spinke discharge, visual stimuli elicited only a one-spike discharge in the same neuron. Trunk and proximal body regions (and not distal areas of the limbs) then receive bilateral somatosensory input, binocular visual afferents, vestibular information and callosal projections from the homotopic representation of the opposite hemisphere. The possible functional meaning of this complex organization is discussed.