Highly repeated DNA sequences from three Old World primate groups have been compared, using restriction endonucleases. Baboons, macaques and mangabeys share a 340 § § Numbers of base-pairs are rounded off to the nearest 5 or 10. base-pair, tandemly repeated DNA that is cut once by EndoR · BamHI. The several species of guenons, including the African green monkey, possess a related 170 base-pair, tandemly organized sequence distinguished by the feature of being cut once by EndoR · HindIII, EndoR · MboII or EndoR · HphI. The tandemly repeated DNA of the colobus monkey is based on a monomer length of 680 base-pairs, being cut once by EndoR · BamI or EndoR · EcoRI. Thus, all three highly repeated DNAs have a monomer length of 170 n base-pairs, where n = 1, 2 or 4. The 340 and 680 base-pair repeated DNAs contain an internal 170 base-pair periodicity with respect especially to the EndoR · HindIII cleavage site, but with respect also to several other enzymes that characterize each repeated sequence. The 170 base-pair length is called the fundamental unit. The three repeated DNAs are more conserved in the region around the HindIII site and are more divergent elsewhere in the sequence. All seven 170 base-pair fundamental units were related to one another, judging from the overall similarities of the maps of restriction endonuclease cleavage sites. The highly repeated DNAs from baboons and guenons are related enough to cross-hybridize at relaxed criteria (60 °C in 0.12 m-Na +) but neither hybridizes to repeated colobus DNA under this condition. The results show that highly repeated sequences in primates form a common library descended from a single ancestral sequence, with 170 base-pairs making up the fundamental unit of library members. Occasionally, a member of the library is amplified, creating a newly amplified family. In Old World monkeys the most recent amplification just preceded active speciation.