It appears that the human female is endowed at birth with a certain ovarian "capital," namely, the primordial ova. In this author''s experience, there are no new additions to such "capital" by way of oogenesis, either from the germinal epithelium or any other structures in the ovary. Even as the menopause approaches, there are no abrupt changes in the ovaries of patients in their early forties. Nor is there any abrupt change in the pre-menopausal as compared to the early post-menopausal organ. The term " senescent ovary" is used to cover this transitional period, whether the patient be in the immediate pre- meno-pausal or post-menopausal age group. In general, the aging takes place in an orderly and progressive fashion resulting in a gradual loss of primordial ova and their follicular phases, a progressive thinning of ovarian cortex which becomes increasingly wrinkled or gyrated, and a relative increase in the medulla which becomes the repository for corpora albicantia. The vessels of the hilum and medulla become progressively sclerosed. After the age of 50 there is a rather striking loss of all phases of follicular activity. So called "cortical granulo-mata" encountered in the cortex of the menopausal ovary are a definite morphologic entity which probably has some significance, but. only further detailed and correlative studies will elucidate how this as well as the other aspects of the aging ovary fit into the general problem of menopause.