The breathing patterns in the supine posture during inspiration from functional residual capacity (simulating the "liver palpation" manoeuvre) were studied in two groups of young adult male Chinese and Indians with each group comprising 30 subjects. Both groups were matched for age, height and weight. Although the findings did not reach a statistically significant level, Indian subjects were found to breathe more with their abdomen compared to the Chinese during the manoeuvre. The two groups behaved similarly when they breathed with increasing amplitude from their resting tidal volume to full inspiratory capacity. There was also no difference between the two groups when they performed the total lung capacity manoeuvre.