HERPES gestationis is a comparatively rare dermatosis occurring during pregnancy or the puerperium. The disease was described by Bunel in 1811, and the term herpes gestationis was suggested by Milton in 1872. Duhring believed that the disease belonged to the syndrome he had described under the name of dermatitis herpetiformis. The generally accepted opinion of most writers is that herpes gestationis is a variant of, or identical with, dermatitis herpetiformis. The relation to pregnancy is a characteristic of the disease not observed in dermatitis herpetiformis. This may indicate an endocrine relationship as suggested in the cases reported by Rostenberg,1Elliott,2Muller and Lapp.3 The infrequency of this disease is indicated by the reports of Perondi who found only 5 cases among 22,000 pregnant women, and Crawford,411 cases in 49,254 deliveries. Muller and Lapp,3in their review of the American literature for a 10-year