The patterns of cell death and division are described in the normal postnatal rat retina and following transection of the optic nerve on the day of birth. Optic nerve transection on the day of birth results in the rapid degeneration of the ganglion cells. Mitosis at the outer retinal surface ceases first in the temporal retina, then in the nasal retina and becomes progressively more restricted to peripheral regions. Mitotic activity was not affected by the loss of ganglion cells. Cell death takes place in a wave passing from the ganglion cell to the inner nuclear to the outer nuclear layer. The time course of cell death is not affected by the loss of ganglion cells following optic nerve transection, and there is no significant increase in the number of cells which degenerate in the inner nuclear layer. The effects of removing a major postsynaptic target of local circuit neurones appears to be less pronounced than has been reported for relay neurones.