"Fifty years ago, F.M.R. Walshe launched his famous diatribe against J.F. Fulton and his thesis that a premotor area with specialized functions exists within the agranular frontal cortex of primates. Now there is general agreement that the agranular cortex of the frontal lobe contains at least three cortical fields: the primary motor cortex, the supplementary motor cortex and the premotor cortex. This paper summarizes some of the evidence that the premotor cortex plays a role in the preparation for limb movememnts and presents speculation concerning the aspects of motor preparation in which the premotor cortex might be involved."