Protochlorophyllide, chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b have been found with HPLC and 77 K fluorescence spectroscopy in the lowermost (30 mm) section of epicotyls and in the first stipulas of dark-grown pea seedlings. The total amount of chlorophylls is as high as 0.1 μg/ plant but there are also plants having only traces of chlorophylls. The amount of chlorophylls decreases steeply upwards in the epicotyls. The middle parts and tissues above them do not contain detectable amounts. In the 77 K fluorescence emission spectra of the tissues, a characteristic band at 680 nm indicates the presence of chlorophyll a. The amplitude of this band correlates well with the chlorophyll contents of the different tissues. The amounts of chlorophylls in the dark-grown pea plants correlate with chlorophylls of dissected embryos. The data suggest that the presence of chlorophylls in dark-grown pea seedlings is due to a carry-over of chlorophyll from the embryo via cell division and not to de novo chlorophyll biosynthesis during dark germination and development of the seedlings.