The tactile impairment in monkeys with unilateral removals of area SII is seen as possibly analogous to the rare condition of tactile agnosia. The lesions in a new series of animals with SII removals are described. The performance of 3 groups of monkeys is compared: no group differences were obtained on visual tasks (except retrieval of a moving target); minimal if any differences were obtained on inter-manual transfer of tactile learning; significant differences were found between animals with unilateral or bilateral removals of SII relative to unoperated animals at re-learning tactile discrimination tasks, irrespective of the hand being used. These findings suggest that area SII projects to a further neural system involved in somatosensory performance; and that a unilateral removal has its effect through the functional disruption of the intact SII.