Monolayers of cadmium arachidate (thickness 26.8 A) are deposited on Ag and Au substrates. They can be detected by the resonance excitation of surface plasmons (ATR method). The number of monolayers is correlated with the displacement of the reflection minimum. The observed values of the position of the minima as well as the shape of the reflection curve are in agreement with the calculated ones, using a refractive index of cadmium arachidate of 1.52 in agreement with other measurements