The degermed Japonica and J/Indica brown rites were successively milled to give 4.4%(fraction I), 4.7%(fraction II) and 5.9%(fraction III) yield of flour, with the remaining as residual kernel. The amino acid composition of the protein in the milled fractions was similar, exceptserine and histidine. With some amino acids, particularly phenylalanie, glycine and isoleucine, differences among varieties were much greater than among fractions of the same rice. The content of lysine was the highest in fractions I and II, whereas isoleucine showed the opposite trend to lysine. The first and second limiting amino acids of all fractions were lysine and threonine, respectively. No varietal differences in the distribution of fatty acids within the kernel were observed.