Karyotype of the ricessh Orygias latipes (Temminck et Schlegel) was investigated using 151 specimens of eleven populations in the southern Korea. Based on the karyotype analysis, two distinct chromosomal groups were found. One group, occurring in the Kum River, the Mankyong River, the Dongjin River, the Ysngsan River and the SEmjin River had a diploid chromosome number of 46 and arm number of 70, which contained one pair of "large" metacentric chromosomes. The other group, occurring in the Tamjin River, the Hyongsan River andthe all four island populations observed had a diploid chromosome number of 48 and arm number of 68. These results showed that 0. latipes of 6 inland populations was identical with the Chinese population in diploid number, arm number and presence of "large" metacentric chromosome, while the present species of island populations ana populations of the Tamjn R. and Hyongsan R. was similar to the Japanese population in chromosome number and arm number. The karyotype variation in populations indicated that karyotypes will probably provide useful information in studying zoogeography of this species.phy of this species.