A Weibull distribution was fit to the osteosarcoma death times of beagles given single intravenous injections of /sup 239/Pu. For injected doses in the range 0-1..mu..Ci/kg the osteosarcoma incidence rate h(t) at t days after injection can be fit by a quadratic function of injected dose d: h(t) = 2.61 X 10/sup -18/ d/sup 2/t/sup 4.91/. The best-fitting linear function was rejected by the data (P < 0.001). A different formula for h(t), derived from a multistage theory for osteosarcoma induction, was also fit to these data. For this purpose microdosimetry calculations were used to estimate the dose to the cells at risk in the endosteal layer (endosteal dose). According to the best fit, h(t) is a quadratic function of endosteal dose at low doses. A linear dose-response relationship was again rejected. The absence of a linear component at low doses might be explained by the fact that 108 of the 185 animals injected at the lowest doses (<0.02 ..mu..Ci/kg) were still alive at the time these data were collected.