By chromatography of an unsaponifiable fraction of a petroleum extract, a saturated hydrocarbon triacontane, 22,23‐dihydrostigmasterol and α‐carotene were isolated. The identity of triacontane was confirmed by its melting point and elemental analysis. 22,23‐Dihydrostigmasterol was identified by its melting point, mixed melting point, melting points of its acetate and benzoate and by its specific rotation in chloroform. α‐Carotene was identified by its absorption maxima at 460 and 480 mμ. From the ethanolic extracts a mixture of alkaloids was separated which on chromatography over alumina gave a crystalline alkaloid, monocrotaline, C16H23NO6, m.p. 196–197° and a new crystalline base m.p. 180–181°, named sericine which has not been completely identified. It has the tentative empiric formula C17H24NO7 and may be a new alkaloid. Presence of two more alkaloids was shown by paper chromatography 1961 Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain