1. In the tortoise, Amyda japonica, a cold-blooded animal readily available in this country, the role of catecholamines in the regulation of free fatty acids(FFA) metabolism was investigated in both in vivo and in vitro studies. 2. Norepinephrine elevated both FFA and glucose levels in plasma. 3. When 50μg/kg of Epinephrine, Norepinephrine and Isopropylarterenol were administered intravenously, the relative effectiveness of mobilizing FFA was in the descending order of potency-Epinephrine, Norepinephrine and Isopropylarterenol. 4. In order to exclude the tonic influence of the endogenous catecholamines , reserpine was given to some animals. Two days after the reserpine-treatment, glucose showed a significant increase over the solely vehicle treated controls, FFA but an insignificant one. Excised auricles from those animals showed a diminished response to tyramine. Seven days after the treatment, however, when the depletion of catecholamines from the tissue stores seemed to be complete, judged from the absence of the response of isolated auricles to tyramine, both FFA and glucose levels were definitely lowered. 5. In in vitro experiments Epinephrine enhanced the FFA-release from the adipose tissue. The effect increased proportionately with the concentration until a maximal effect was attained at a concentration of 1x 10^-5 g/ml. 6. The order of potency in releasing FFA from adipose tissue in vitro was the same as in vitro, i.e., Epinephrine, Norepinephrine and Isopropylarterenol, but the differences were much less marked. 7. Ergotamine exerted no lipolytic action, but inhibited the lipolytic effect ef Epinephrine significantly. 8. Nethalide showed a slight lipolytic effect per se but inhibited the Epinephrine-induced lipolysis significantly. 9. Catecholamines play an important role in regulating FFA metabolism in the cold-blooded animal, just as in the warm-blooded animals, and the tortoise, Amyda japonica, may be used in the studies of fat metabolism as well as the rat.